


Seether

by SeaSpectre160



Series: Transient [3]
Category: X-Men Evolution
Genre: F/M, Post-Season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-25
Updated: 2011-09-30
Packaged: 2018-02-13 18:04:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2159988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeaSpectre160/pseuds/SeaSpectre160
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A pair of twins develops mutant powers. In one, Apocalypse's ghost finds the key to his revival, and in the other, Ray finds a soulmate. After the loss of some of their own, the X-Men and their friends must prepare for one last battle. It's not over yet...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Vanished

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic has taken almost TWO YEARS to get up, and it has changed so much. It was originally a Pietro/OC fic, but then I fell in love with the Tabietro pairing, and Rebecca's name was originally Heather. But now, here's the first chapter of 'Seether'. I promise you a good read with in-depth emotions and some crazy humour here and there, and if it turns out I'm not delivering, let me know, but please be nice. :)
> 
> PAIRINGS: Mainly Raybecca, but also has Jott and Lancitty, and hints of Kurmanda, Tabietro, AleX23, Samara, Robrhane, Jubby, Jamie/Paige, Remy/Rogue, and maybe a little Evanda if you squint a little bit.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own X-Men: Evolution of the W.i.t.c.h. novel 'The Light of Meridian'. Okay, so I own a paperback copy, but that's it.

_Wednesday, January 23 rd, 2002_

Rebecca drew her coat tighter around her body to keep the cold out. Why did things have to get so damn freezing in the winter? It made walking to school every morning like taking a stroll through a giant freezer, one full of icy streets backed up with slow-moving cars. Beside her, Rebecca’s mirror image shivered and rubbed her hands together, trying to get warm.

Rebecca and Julia Reid were identical twin sisters. They had raven black hair, although Rebecca’s had bright orange highlights, emerald green eyes, and pale complexions, made even paler by the -20°C (-4F) temperature.

Rebecca spotted her favourite restaurant up ahead and pulled on her sister’s arm. “Come on,” she insisted, “We can detour at Timmy’s for a coffee.”

“Becky, we’ll be late for school.” Julia had a near-perfect attendance record and high marks in all her classes, which her twin attributed to the fact that she had pretty much no social life outside of school. With her, it was always schoolwork, homework, _work_ work, eating three meals a day, and eight hours of sleep.

Rebecca, on the other hand, barely skated by in the academic department, preferring to rehearse with her band, the Graveyard Roses. As soon as their eighteenth birthday hit, she planned on claiming her inheritance, buying a big van, and travelling across the country with her bandmates until they were discovered. In short, being a few minutes tardy wasn’t on her list of worries.

“Big deal. In this cold, the bell’s probably frozen solid. I need a coffee!” The girls attended Sacred Heart School of Halifax, Nova Scotia, only because it was their parents’ last wish. A large part of the estate had been designated for the girls’ enrolment.

Rebecca managed to pull Julia into the Tim Horton’s and headed straight for the closest empty booth. The seats were hard, white plastic with dark red leather backing that was _supposed_ to be comfortable. She practically shoved her sister right in. “Wait right here,” she insisted, “I’ll get the coffee.”

Julia got right back up. “Fine,” she relented, “But we're getting them to go.”

Rebecca shrugged. They were always making compromises like that. It was beyond her how they could be related, let alone have the exact same DNA! Julia was quiet, kept to herself, and tended to do as she was told. Rebecca was the complete opposite: outspoken, outgoing, and preferred to live life her way.

She ordered the coffees and got herself a discount by flirting shamelessly with the guy at the counter. The young man gazed at her through his googly-eyed specs and broke into a sweat, which didn’t help his already greasy hair and oily skin. Rebecca smirked as she handed a cup to her disgusted sister before heading out the door.

She wasn’t even halfway out before someone crashed into her. Her cup, filled with the coffee she’d just paid for, fell out of her grasp. “Shit!” she cried, as the precious contents spilled onto the sidewalk. Rebecca rounded on the person responsible. “Why don’t you watch where you’re…” She trailed off when she realised who it was.

It was common knowledge that the new transfer students were mutants. Wanda and Pietro Maximoff distanced themselves from the other students whenever they could, and spoke to no one but the teachers and each other. Both were in the eleventh grade with Rebecca and Julia. They _always_ had lunch off-campus, although nobody actually knew where they went. Rebecca had once overheard Pietro saying he’d run to _Truro_ to get their food.

And it was Pietro that Rebecca was yelling at now. She wasn’t all that afraid of him, but his sister was downright scary. Nobody messed with him because they feared her wrath.

“Uh, never mind.” Wanda was only a few steps behind her brother, wearing her ever-present scowl. Rebecca took a few steps back, accidentally blocking the doorway and keeping everyone else from getting out.

“I told you, we’re going to be late,” Julia reminded her, not aware of the situation up front, “Do you mind?”

“Uh… sorry, Jules. Let’s go.” Julia started to move through, but stopped when she saw the Maximoffs.

Then the weirdness started. Julia’s eyes grew wide with terror, the little colour in her face drained out, and she started trembling violently. Her coffee cup slipped through her fingers too, but she paid it no attention as she edged past them. Pietro glanced behind him with a confused look on his face, but there was nothing even remotely terrifying there. Something wasn’t right. Julia had always been wary of the mutant twins, like everyone else, but never like this. She eventually made it a few steps away before turning around and bolting down Spring Garden Road, towards the school, ignoring the dangerous slipperiness of the icy sidewalk.

“Jules!” Rebecca called. Her twin sister didn’t respond at all. She just kept running. “What was _that_ all about?” she mumbled to herself. She hurried off after Julia, being careful not to slip on the ice.

By the time she reached the school, the final warning bell had rung. Rebecca spotted Julia across the street in the Public Gardens, crouching under a willow tree with her head in her hands. She started to cross the road, but had to wait for a car to pass. Then Julia was gone.

One second, her twin sister was there, but she vanished while the vehicle went by. Rebecca stared at the spot for a long time. It was only when a car honked at her that she realised she was standing in the middle of the road. She hopped back onto the sidewalk and headed into the school. She was probably just letting her imagination get away with her. Julia was probably in French class right now.

Or not. The first thing she noticed when she walked into the room was that her sister’s desk was empty.

“ _Mlle Reid!”_ Mme Wallace’s voice startled her. _“Tu es en retard encore!”_ (You’re late again!)

“Huh?” Rebecca was barely paying attention. _“Oh, ouais. Je m’excuse.”_ (Oh, yeah. Sorry.) She slid into her own desk and got out her French book.

“ _Et où est ta soeur?”_ (And where is your sister?)

“ _Euh, Julia… n’est sentie pas de venir aujourd’hui.”_ (Uh, Julia… didn’t feel like coming today.)

“ _Vraiment? Ça, c’est plus comme un de_ ** _tes_** _excuses.”_ (Really? That’s more like one of _your_ excuses.) Mme Wallace arched an eyebrow.

“ _Elle est malade.”_ (She’s sick.) Rebecca came up with the story on the spot. _“Ouais, elle ne sentit pas très bien hier soir, alors Meghan a décidé qu’elle doit rester en lit aujourd'hui.”_ _(Yeah, she wasn’t feeling very well yesterday evening, so Meghan decided she should stay in bed today.)_

If the excuse had been for herself, no one would’ve bought it. But Mme Wallace shrugged and checked something off on the attendance sheet.

Rebecca got the feeling that someone was staring at her. She risked a glance back and saw Wanda Maximoff sitting all the way at the back, as usual, her eyes locked on Rebecca, her expression both serious and confused.

* * *

Julia had never been so terrified in her life. She didn’t stop running, she just had to get away. The image of that… ghost kept playing over and over in her head. The shadowy figure that’d emerged from behind the Maximoffs and reached a clawed hand towards her was right behind her.

Upon nearing the school, she looked over her shoulder, and saw… nothing. She slowed herself to a stop, just in front of the gate that led to the school’s rear entrance and the lunch yard. Julia leaned against the metal fence for support, taking short, panicked breaths. Eventually she breathed a sigh of relief. Her mind must’ve been playing tricks on her.

And then she turned around.

The spectre was inches away from her nose, its glowing purple eyes staring right into hers. Julia gasped, once again overcome with terror. She dashed across the street, ignoring the fact that a car could very well hit her at any given moment, and scrambled over the fence and into the Public Gardens. A big tree was the closest thing to her, so she ran and hid behind it.

Rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet and gripping the straps of her schoolbag, she peeked around the side of the tree. She saw that the thing was gone again. Instead, her twin sister was running down the sidewalk. Julia started to stand up. She had to warn Becky.

“ _Lies.”_ A chilling, disembodied voice echoed in her mind. _“All lies.”_ Julia dropped back down, clutching her head. _“Come. Come to me.”_ She opened her eyes, only to see black. She was floating in an empty void of darkness.

“What?” she gasped, twisting around in an effort to see something, _anything_. The Public Gardens were gone, the school was gone, the street that separated them was gone, even the snow between her boots had vanished. “Where am I?”

* * *

The entire morning passed in the haze. Rebecca paid no attention whatsoever in class, constantly worrying about Julia.

This wasn’t like her sister at all. She only missed school if she was _really_ sick. She certainly never ran off without any warning or reason. And what had scared her so badly by the Tim’s? Rebecca hadn’t seen Julia so frightened since the accident all those years ago.

As soon as the lunch bell rang, she gathered her stuff and headed to the back entrance to meet Austin Jones, her boyfriend of ten months. Rebecca put a smile on before sneaking up on him. He was standing by the door, his back to her, so she crept up behind him and, after silently counting to three, jumped on him. He yelped out in surprise at first, then swung her around so that they were face to face. “Boo,” she whispered playfully before passionately planting her lips on his. Never mind that this was a Catholic school, and a teacher could come across them at any minute.

“Hey, babe,” he greeted her as they eventually pulled apart.

“Hey, yourself.” Her fake smile dropped. “Austin, can we talk? It’s about Julia.”

“Who?”

“Julia. My _sister_.”

“Oh, her. What about her?”

“Today, right before school, we bumped into the Maximoffs, and-”

“The mutants?” Austin hated mutants. He’d had an older cousin who’d been a cop down in the States, Bill, who’d been killed during the rampage of the mutant called Juggernaut. “What’d they do?”

“Nothing, really. Julia just got freaked out all of a sudden and took off. I thought I saw her in the Gardens across the street, but then she vanished. I haven’t seen her since. It was so weird. It was like she saw something the rest of us couldn’t, and it terrified her.”

“Well, you saw her in the Gardens, right? Maybe she left something there to help us find her.”

“Austin, that might be something she’d do normally, but I’m telling you, she’s not thinking straight. I can feel it, something’s not right.” She squeezed his hand tighter, trying to communicate the urgency of the situation.

“But it still wouldn’t hurt to just go look. Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out. If nothing’s there, we can call the cops and then there’ll be nothing to do but wait and hope.”

“Just sit and wait?”

“Yeah. I mean, what else _can_ we do?”

Rebecca sighed. Sometimes Austin just didn’t get her. Sitting and waiting wasn’t her style, especially not when her sister could be in trouble.

She and Austin went over, anyway. He hopped the fence halfway and helped her up, and they both went down together. A set of footprints from another fence-jumper were visible, only half filled in with the light snowfall from second period. They led behind a large, frost-coated willow tree, and then they just stopped.

“This is exactly where Julia was when I last saw her!” Rebecca realised, “Right here, at _this_ spot!” She spotted something lying in the snow, and picked it up. “It’s her bag.”

“Well, there’s nothing else here,” Austin stated dully, “We can go get something to eat, and then get the cops on the phone.”

“Are you kidding? I can’t eat when I have no damn idea where my own twin sister is!”

* * *

Rebecca had eventually won Austin over, and they’d called the police without waiting until after lunch. She’d been excused from school to come up to the station and answer some questions, then Meghan had come to pick her up.

Meghan Panner was the twins’ older cousin by twelve years. She’d taken them in after their parents had died six years ago, and cared for them as if they were her own children, along with her husband, Chase, and their three-year-old daughter, Rochelle.

It was Meghan who’d called Chris Carson, Lynzi Park, and Matty Tate, Rebecca’s bandmates, to inform them that rehearsal was cancelled, and why. Lynzi – Rebecca’s best friend – had offered to scour the city with her numerous brothers and sisters, but Rebecca turned down the offer. She doubted Julia was in town anymore.

Now Rebecca was at home, curled up in the living room armchair. She was still in her school uniform, even though it was past midnight. Her arms were wrapped around her knees in the foetal position, and she was staring blankly into space.

She looked up when Meghan came into the room, carrying two mugs of steamy peppermint tea. Rebecca accepted one, but didn’t take a sip. “You should get some sleep, Rebecca,” Meghan advised her, “The police will do their job. They’ll find Julia. You need your rest. You’ve got that field trip to the museum tomorrow after school, and if you fall asleep in class, they won’t let you go.”

“I don’t want to go to school tomorrow.”

“You’ve already missed enough days already, young lady, and your sister wouldn’t want you to miss out on that trip for her. You know how she is. If she found you never went to school while she was gone, you’d never here the end of it.”

She was right. Julia was shy, but if Rebecca ever left an assignment to the last minute, or anything like that, her twin would go on and on about her lack of prioritising ability. Rebecca usually found it annoying, but right now, she’d give anything to hear Jules’s voice.

* * *

“ _So, what did you think of the movie, girls?” Zack Reid asked his wife, Beth, and their twin daughters as they drove home._

“ _I didn’t like it,” Rebecca stated right away, “It made no sense at all.”_

“ _Oh, come on,” Mom teased, “I thought it was sweet.”_

“ _A dog gets separated from its owners for, like, an hour, everybody freaks out, dog comes back, and the freaking_ ** _mayor_** _throws a party. That’s not sweet, that’s just plain stupid.”_

“ _The dog_ ** _was_** _worth a billion dollars.”_

“ _So?”_

_She tuned out the debate between her mother and sister and went back to trying to read her favourite book, ‘The Light of Meridian’. It was a little difficult, as night had fallen, and the only available light came from the streetlights the car passed. She had just reached the part where Elyon witnesses the burning of a peasant family’s house when she heard her nickname, valid only within the family. “What about you, Jules?” her mother was asking, “Did you like it?”_

“ _Huh? Oh yeah… um… not really,” she answered._

“ _Sweetie, put the book away. You’ll damage your eyes.” Sighing, Julia closed her paperback novel aside before staring out the window._

“ _Well, I guess that was a total waste of money,” Dad commented._

“ _Not totally,” Rebecca corrected, “The popcorn was okay.”_

“ _Are you kidding?” He turned around in the driver’s seat to look at her. “It tasted like-”_

“ _LOOK OUT!” Mom shrieked._

 _But it was too late. Time seemed to stop for just a second as a pair of headlights glared into the vehicle. The there was a sickening_ ‘crunch’ _as they collided._

_It was dark for a few seconds, and silent. Then she opened her eyes. All the windows were cracked, and the inside of the car was filled with an orange haze. It took her a second to realise the engine was on fire._

_The door on her sister’s side was opened, and her twin was seized by a pair of arms and pulled her out. Mom and Dad were rescued as well, and she waited._

_For a second, she thought nobody would come. The rest of her family was safe, but she’d been completely forgotten. The flames were getting closer and closer, until she finally screamed._

“ _GET ME OUT!”_

* * *

Rebecca sat up in bed, gasping. She was covered in a cold sweat and her breathing was short and shallow. She curled up, hugging her knees, and started sobbing.

Mom and Dad hadn’t made it. She remembered seeing the bright light, and when it’d faded, she’d been in a hospital bed. Julia had been beside her, wide awake, crying hysterically. Once Rebecca had heard the terrible truth, she’d broken down, too.

But, as she began to calm down, Rebecca realised something. She had no recollection of being rescued at all. The doctors had said she’d been flung to the side, hit her head on the window, and knocked unconscious. So where did that memory come from?

* * *

“HHHEEELLLPP!” Julia continued screaming into the blackness. The emotional pain just wouldn’t stop. Over and over again, she watched it happening, unable to shut her eyes to the horror. “Please,” she whimpered, “make it stop.”

“ _I will, if only you let me into your heart.”_ The creepy voice was back.

“What?”

“ _Let me into your heart, and I will remove all your suffering.”_

“You... you can do that?”

“ _Of course. I can already see all that you have been but through. Losing your family, growing up in the shadow of a talented sister, everything. I can make it all go away, but you have to let me.”_

“Yes,” she begged, “Yes, please! I don’t want this pain anymore! I’ll do anything to pay you back, _anything_!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I know most of you are wondering where the hell the X-Men are, but I promise you, some are going to show up in the next chapter, along with some action. Here's a little sample:
> 
> "Let me go, both of you!" she cried. Something Ray hard and shoved him back into the jet, forcing him to let go to Rebecca. He heard her scream, and realized that Austin wasn't inside. He caught a glimpse of Rebecca right before she jumped.
> 
> Until then, Read and Review!
> 
> EDIT: 2017/03/21: Sketches of what [Rebecca](http://orig12.deviantart.net/ead6/f/2015/243/5/0/rebecca_reid_by_aquawraith-d97xbrs.jpg) and [Julia](http://orig07.deviantart.net/5d78/f/2015/243/3/2/julia_reid_by_aquawraith-d97xc2y.jpg) look like.


	2. Fight Or Flight?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some background information, the Brotherhood and the X-Men are relatively getting along and working together; Jubilee, Wolfsbane, Spyke, and Boom-Boom have come back; and Gambit and Colossus have joined.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own XME, only Julia, Rebecca, and Austin, and the other OCs.

_Thursday, January 24 th, 2002_

“Alright, everyone watch your step,” the tour guide told the class. She was the only one there who would bother to address Wanda and Pietro, except for the teachers yelling at them for some random offence every so often. Most of them were things they weren’t even doing (or, in Wanda’s case, all things she wasn’t doing). Granted, Pietro _did_ want to zoom around and cause a little mayhem, but he had to be on his best behaviour. All he had to do was keep his nose clean for another month, and he could be transferred back to Bayville.

The eleventh-grade history classes were on a field trip to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. They’d been through all the galleries inside, and were about to board a ship floating in the harbour, the CSS _Acadia_.

Wanda crossed her arms next to him. She was too on edge to pay attention to the tour. Pietro was worried, too. The day before, he’d gotten an e-mail from Evan Daniels, also known as Spyke, saying that a new mutant signature had been detected in the area near the school that morning, at the same time Julia Reid had freaked out and run off. Pietro was positive it couldn’t be a coincidence. If Julia was the new mutant, then there was no doubt her identical twin sister would develop her own powers soon, if she hadn’t already. The problem was that Cerebro hadn’t matched a name to the mutant signature, so they had no way of being absolutely sure.

Even worse was that another mutant had been picked up. But it wasn’t just any old mutant – it was Mesmero. Apocalypse’s most loyal servant was still out there, and he was up to something.

Pietro glanced over to where Rebecca Reid was standing with her anti-mutant boyfriend, Austin Jones. He had a feeling it would be tough to keep an eye on her with _that_ guy around. Then he wondered how long that relationship would last if she did possess the mutant gene.

His cell phone vibrated in his pocket for the fifth time since they got there. Again his teacher turned to glare at him. “Maximoff, perhaps you could answer that and tell whoever is calling you to stop interrupting our tour,” he suggested.

Pietro nodded. “Gladly,” he replied, pulling it out and checking the caller ID. “Summers,” he muttered as he read _‘Captain Tightwad’_ on the screen. “Okay, what the hell do you want?”

“ _I’ve been trying to reach you for an hour now,”_ Summers snapped, _“Why weren’t you answering?”_

Pietro rolled his eyes. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe I’m on the trip to the museum you guys insisted I go to?”

“ _I don’t have to put up with your sarcasm, Quicksilver. Cerebro picked up the signature again, and you were right. We got two possible matches: Rebecca and her sister Julia Reid. It’s in the area near the museum, so most likely it’s Rebecca. Of course, we have no idea where Julia is, so it could be her. Anyway, Bobby, Jubilation, and Ray all got sent home early – don’t ask why – and they weren’t doing much around here, so Logan’s already sent them over to give you a hand if anything goes wrong, okay?”_

“Gotcha. I’m out.” _Click_.

Pietro looked over at Rebecca again. It didn’t seem like she was doing anything.

It was about half an hour later when it happened. They were going on the ship in groups of five. Wanda and Pietro were the only ones who noticed the three ‘latecomers’ joining the tour: Bobby Drake, Jubilation Lee, and Ray Crisp, otherwise known as Iceman, Jubilee, and Berzerker. Then weird, violet-pink lights began appearing in the sky, scaring some of Pietro’s classmates. Pietro tensed up and looked around. Rebecca grasped at Jones’s arm as she suddenly grew pale, more than was natural for her, of course. Her legs seemed to be unable to support her any longer, and she fell to her knees. Her boyfriend was able to keep her upright while Jubilation ran over at Bobby’s nod. It would be a better idea to send her over than Ray or himself, obviously. Judging from his observations, Pietro figured Jones would react defensively in a guy came to his girlfriend’s aid. The dude seemed to be just a bit possessive.

Jubilation helped support Rebecca. “We should get her inside,” she told Jones, “It must be the cold. She needs warming up.”

“Yeah, but what about all those freaky lights?” Jones asked, “Where the hell did they come from?” Pietro saw Jubilation bite her lip. He couldn’t tell if her worry was about Rebecca, the lights, or the fact that Jones was unknowingly asking the expert on colourful flashes in the sky.

Pietro ran over, at a ‘normal’ pace. “She’s right, man,” he insisted, “We’d better get her inside.”

Jones got right up in his face. “No one asked you, mutie,” he growled, “Besides, how do we know you’ve got nothing to do with this? You _and_ your freaky sister?”

Pietro clenched his fists. “Hey, don’t blame this on us! We’ve got no idea what’s going on!”

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” a voice asked from behind. Everyone turned to see a figure standing there. It was a female, probably a teenager or a young woman. She wore a long black and gold Egyptian-style dress with a hooded cloak that hid her face. Her wrists each had a golden band around them, and she wore calf-high sandals, despite the cold weather. “The pure, limitless power one can achieve, if you just make the right friends.”

“What?” Jubilation gasped, “This is all you?” Pietro, Wanda, Bobby, and Ray moved in front of her, Jones, and Rebecca, ready to defend if necessary.

“Of course, _Jubilee_.” She knew Jubes’s codename? Who was she? “I was given limitless power by my new friend so that I could avenge the wrong done to his – to _our_ master by our own kind. Iceman, Jubilee, Berzerker, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch, you five know very well who I am talking about.”

They did?

Then Wanda put two and two together. “Apocalypse!” she cried, “And your new ‘friend’ is Mesmero, isn’t it?” Mentally, Pietro slapped himself. How did he _not_ see that?

“What do you want?” Ray growled, sparks flying out of his raised fists. A few students who’d noticed immediately stepped several paces back, at least those who’d remained outside after this girl showed up.

“Revenge, obviously. My master was a visionary. He saw us mutants ruling the Earth, free of human oppression, by re-creating the humans in our image. And if they didn’t survive the process, then they simply weren’t worthy of existence. But the X-Men, the Brotherhood, and your allies sided with humanity, and locked him away in the Spirit Realm!” She was getting angrier with every word, and the lights flared with her temper. “All he wanted was to help his kind, to help you, and you turned on him and imprisoned him!” Now red lights were appearing around her, floating in long, thin streams originating from her hands.

“What are we going to do?” Jubilation whispered, “She looks powerful.” She was directing her question at Bobby, who Pietro had noticed was sort of the unofficial leader of the New Recruits.

Bobby just froze up. Literally. In an instant, he’d covered himself with icy armour and shifted into a ready position. “We start by clearing the area,” he stated decidedly, “Get the students and everyone else out of here before things get too dangerous.”

“Okay, people, head inside!” Ray shouted to the few remaining bystanders, “You’ll be a lot safer in there!” Gradually, the small number of people retreated into the museum. The teachers shouted instructions to their students, telling them to stick together and meet in the lobby. Soon, Jones and Rebecca were the only ones left outside with the mutants.

Rebecca had since overcome her bout of dizziness, and Jones was helping her to her feet. She stared at the girl, pointing a shaky finger at her. “You…” she whispered, “I… I _know_ you.” Pietro saw the hooded girl clench her fists.

“Of _course_ you know me,” she snapped, “Can’t you tell who I am?” She flipped her hood down, revealing short black hair, green eyes, and a face identical to Rebecca’s.

“No way,” Pietro gasped in recognition, “Julia Reid?!”

“The missing girl?” Ray asked, “How did _she_ get mixed up with Mesmero and Apocalypse?”

“Mesmero came to me,” Julia stated, “He showed me how the humans are all bent on destroying us. How they don’t realise their era is over, that it’s time for the next stage of evolution to step up and take our place in a new world order.”

“No,” Jubilation tried to reason with her, “Not all the humans are like that. The ones who are just don’t understand. That’s why we were hiding for so long. We were waiting until the world was ready to accept us. The humans never _forced_ us into exile or anything like that. We can all live together, once everyone calms down.”

“Lies,” Julia hissed, “We cannot associate ourselves with them. Humans are a waste of space, and if we can’t make them like us, the only other option is to destroy them all.” And with that, she waved her hand and one of the red streams became almost solid and shot right at Jones, wrapping around his neck and beginning to throttle him. Rebecca shrieked as her boyfriend coughed and sputtered and began to turn blue.

Suddenly, Pietro felt like he’d been punched in the gut, literally. Some invisible force crashed into him and knocked him into the ground. Looking around, he saw Jones, Julia, Bobby, Wanda, Ray, and Jubilation on their backs, too. Rebecca was the only one who remained standing, albeit rather shakily.

“Jules,” she begged her sister, “Please, don’t do this. You can’t hate all humans. What about me? Or Meghan, Chase, and Rochelle? We’re family! They took us in when we had nowhere else to go! How can you even think of _killing_ them?”

Julia stood up – or rather, she levitated herself so that she was hovering about a foot off the ground. “The Julia you knew no longer exists!” she exploded, “She was a weak-minded human! Now I am Seether, loyal servant to the great Apocalypse!” She rose even higher, and drifted over so that she was floating above the water. “You have two options: rejoin us, and band together for the survival of the mutant race, or stay with the vile humans and be destroyed!” With that, she hurled a huge wave of green energy, sending it barrelling straight towards them.

* * *

Ray nearly tripped over his own feet as he just barely dodged the huge blast. Glancing around, he was relieved to see that no one else had gotten hit. Wanda had managed to take cover behind a pile of crates, Bobby had tackled Jubilation out of the way and was now lying on top of her, and Pietro was standing by the other end of the waterfront, holding Rebecca and Austin Jones – Ray knew the guy’s name because Wanda had e-mailed them the info on the twins the night before – by an arm each. “This-is-getting-ridiculous!” the speed demon cried, his speech accelerating in evident panic, “We’ve-gotta-get-outta-here!”

Seether hurled another blast, this one smaller and more controlled, in Iceman and Jubilee’s direction. This time, Jubilee was the one who saved Iceman. She rolled out from beneath him, then grabbed his arm and pulled him away not a moment too soon, before lobbing some fireworks back. Berzerker followed her lead. He drew his arm back, feeling the familiar tingling sensation in his hand as the electricity built up, then threw the bolt in Seether’s direction. Scarlet Witch also fired hex bolts from her hiding place while Iceman chucked an array of ice daggers.

Despite the full frontal assault, Seether didn’t seem bothered. The fury she’d displayed earlier had quickly vanished. With an empty scowl on her face, she waved her hand and summoned a wave of blue energy, which acted like a shield. Berzerker and Scarlet Witch’s attacks fizzled out, Iceman’s projectiles shattered upon impact, and Jubilee’s fireworks exploded harmlessly against its surface. “It won’t be that easy,” Seether declared without so much as a hint of emotion, “The only thing you’re useful for now is the resurrection sacrifice.”

“‘Resurrection sacrifice’?” Jubilee repeated, “I don’t like the sound of that, guys.”

“Once all the enemies that contributed to his defeat are in the Spirit Realm, my master will return from _his_ imprisonment and complete his dream of uniting the mutants of the world.”

“Quicksilver, get Rebecca and Austin to the Blackbird, then swing around to pick us up,” Iceman ordered, “It’s up on top of that big hill with the fort on it!” Quicksilver gave him a funny look before picking Rebecca right up.

“I’ll-be-back-in-a-couple-seconds-for-ya!” he told Austin, and sped off in a northwest direction.

Berzerker took advantage of the distraction to seek cover behind the crates with Scarlet Witch. “How did you land the Blackbird on Citadel Hill?” she asked him incredulously.

* * *

“Iceman, Jubilee, and Berzerker, come in.” _Ray picked up the radio._

“ _Berzerker here,” he responded, “What's up, Phoenix?”_

“Cyclops finally got a hold of Quicksilver,” _Jean Gray reported,_ “He and Scarlet Witch will be waiting for you at the museum. You’ll have to land on Citadel Hill.”

“ _Where?” Jubilation interrupted, poking her head around the back of Ray’s seat._

“The big hill in Halifax with the fort on it. It’s a National Park, but the Professor got you clearance just for this one time. Who’s in the pilot’s seat?”

“ _I am,” Bobby answered, reminding Ray just **why** he was regretting that second helping of toast._

“Switch with Berzerker.”

“ _Aww, come on!”_

“Bobby…”

“ _Okay, fine!” Bobby reluctantly got up and Ray slid behind the steering column._

“ _Sorry, Iceman,” he ‘apologised’, grinning to show that he was anything **but** sorry, “But, I doubt they’ll let us come within a mile of the city again if you demolish the place.”_

* * *

Wanda shuddered. “Good call.” She would’ve said more, but Seether had chosen that moment to unleash a neon green blast, blasting the crates away and propelling Ray and Wanda into the museum wall. A bolt of red energy followed. It wrapped around Wanda and pulled her up to where Seether still hovered over the harbour.

“Let her go!” Jubilation shouted. She and Bobby were climbing out of the water, where they’d apparently been thrown during Ray and Wanda’s conversation and Pietro had since returned and left again with Austin.

Seether only waved her hand again, conjuring up another type of energy – black. It twisted and crackled and formed into what Ray could only describe as an energy cloud. “You’ll be first,” she declared, a cold smile forming on her lips. Without another word, she tossed Wanda into it.

Jubilation screamed as the ‘cloud’ dissipated, their friend vanishing along with it. “What did you do?!”

“She’s trapped within the Spirit Realm.” Seether's smirk widened. “One down, twenty-seven to go.”

Suddenly, she was hit from behind and knocked into the water by some unseen force. The Blackbird appeared out of thin air, hovering above the docks. The hatch on the bottom opened, and Ray was shocked to see Jamie, of all people, gesturing wildly at them. Well, five Jamies, actually. Ray rushed to catch up with Bobby and Jubilation, who were already on their way up an icy staircase, complete with a handrail. _‘Leave it to Bobby to show off in the middle of a crisis,’_ he thought. Then he slipped and was spared from falling by grabbing said handrail. _‘Then again, I can’t be **totally** ungrateful.’_ When he reached the top, he was helped on board by Pietro and a couple of Jamies.

“Where’s Wanda?” Pietro demanded.

“Gone,” Ray responded, “Seether tossed her through a portal to that Spirit Realm place. And if we don’t get out of here soon, we’ll be stuck, too.”

Okay, so that was a little harsh, but they needed to get out of there _now_. Pietro opened his mouth to argue, but was interrupted when the Blackbird rocked violently. Ray had to hold on to a nearby seat to keep from falling out, but one Jamie wasn’t so lucky. He plummeted downward, vanishing before he could hit the water.

Seether had recovered from blow and was using her red energy tendril to hold onto the Blackbird and prevent them from escaping. One Jamie was in the pilot seat, tugging at the controls, but they weren’t going anywhere.

“Julia!” Rebecca had unbuckled and run over to the hatch. Ray had to grab her arm to keep her from falling out. “Jules, listen to me!”

Austin got up as well and tried to pull her back in. “Rebecca, what are you doing?” he shouted, “Get back in! She’s lost her mind, and she’s not getting it back!” At this, tears started appearing in Rebecca’s eyes.

“Let me go, both of you!” she cried. Something hit Ray hard and shoved him back into the jet, forcing him to let go of Rebecca. He heard her scream, and realised that Austin wasn’t inside anymore. He caught a glimpse of Rebecca right before she jumped.

Ray got up and dashed back over to the hatch. He scanned the water below, searching for where they might’ve landed. Then Jubilation and two Jamies gasped and pointed.

Rebecca was hovering only five feet below the jet, with Austin hanging on by one hand. “Hold on!” she cried, pulling him up so that he could put his arms around her neck. Ray could see her straining, but the two of them only rose maybe a few inches, if at all. She was neither strong nor experienced enough to get back up all the way.

Bobby iced a platform so that he could get down to their level. “Come on!” he urged them, “It’s totally sturdy!” Rebecca lowered herself so that she could set herself firmly on the platform. Ray reached down, and she accepted his hand as he helped her back in. Jubilee kept Seether at bay with more fireworks.

Ray offered to help Austin as well, but the guy smacked his hand away and climbed back up himself. “I don’t need _your_ help, mutie.” At that, Ray decided he _really_ didn’t like this guy. Austin reminded him of his older brother, and that was no compliment. It was bad enough that they got that attitude from people who owed them nothing, but coming from a guy whose life they just saved, it was even worse.

Bobby started making his way up, but a green blast shattered the ice, and he fell. Ray was only vaguely aware of Jubilation screaming as he watched in shock. Seether was using one hand to hold the jet in place, and the other to open a new portal right below Bobby.

In a last-ditch attempt, Iceman fired an ice blast her way, forcing her to let go of the Blackbird in order to shield herself. But the portal stayed open, and Bobby plunged right into it.

Ray dashed to the pilot’s seat and roughly shoved the Jamie clone occupying it to one side. With only a few seconds to spare, he zapped the controls for the hatch door instead of wasting his time trying to find the right button while lifting up away from Seether. As soon as the door was shut, he put the jet into hyperdrive, and they rocketed away.

Once he was positive that Seether wasn’t following them, Ray slowed the Blackbird to cruising speed, punched in the coordinates for the Institute, and activated the autopilot. He looked to the back, and wasn’t at all surprised to see a large crowd of people piled on top of each other. Half the pile vanished, being mostly made of Jamie duplicates, and everyone else slowly started getting up.

“You guys okay?” Ray asked.

“Of course not!” Jubilation shrieked, tears in her eyes. She ran over and grabbed at the steering column. “We left Bobby behind! We’ve got to go back for him!”

Ray tried to force her to let go. If they hadn’t been on autopilot she would’ve sent them into a nosedive. “It’s too late. He’s long gone by now!”

She continued wrestling with him. “What were you thinking? _Leaving_ him when he _needed_ us!”

Whether she intended it or not, Jubilation’s words hit Ray hard. He remembered Scaleface and Callisto confronting him in private while he and the other New Mutants had been hiding out with the Morlocks. They’d been angry with him for joining the X-Men, leaving the Morlocks down a strong fighter for protection. It came back to haunt him every so often in the form of nightmares. He didn’t need any more reminders. Ray gripped the seat hard and gritted his teeth to keep his temper under control.

Pietro zipped over and shoved himself between Ray and Jubilation. “Enough already!” he insisted, half-forcing Jubilation into the nearest seat, “We can’t do anything about it now, and arguing isn’t going to change that.” This coming from the guy whose sister had also been lost. Ray wasn’t as familiar with Pietro as some of the other X-Men, but he was willing to bet that Pietro was freaking out inside and just waiting to be alone before he let it out. He was doing the same thing, after all.

“He’s right,” Jamie agreed, “Bobby could’ve iced himself a ramp and gotten away from that portal, but he made Seether let us go instead. We go back now, and he’ll have done it for nothing.” Ray had to agree with this. Jubilation seemed to reluctantly accept it as well, and curled up in her seat. Pietro sank into another, while Jamie turned to the other passengers. “What about you guys?” he asked, “Are you okay?”

Rebecca shakily stood up. “I-I think so,” she replied, “Who _are_ you guys?”

“We’re the X-Men.” Pietro coughed. “Oh, and Pietro’s with the Brotherhood. I’m Jamie, and this is Jubilation and Ray.”

“Hey, Squirt?” Ray asked, “You mind telling us why the hell you’re even here? You were supposed to stay back home.”

Jamie chuckled nervously. “He hid in the overhead storage compartment,” Pietro answered, “And he fell right on top of me when I started up the jet.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” the youngest X-Man apologised.

“Whatever.”

“Anyway,” Ray interrupted, “We were sent to respond to a new mutant signature detected in your area. That fight just now wasn’t part of the plan, though, otherwise the more experienced members would’ve been sent instead.”

Austin crossed his arms. “So what?” he snapped, “Just take us back home.”

“Sorry, but that’s not a good idea. It’s not safe there, especially for you, Rebecca.”

“How do you know her name?”

“Pietro had his suspicions about who the new mutant was. He told us everything he knew about the twins. Granted, it wasn’t much, just names, stuff that’s just general knowledge. Although, if _you_ want to go home, you probably won’t be in a lot of danger.”

“Anywhere you take Rebecca, I’m going, too.” The response was growled through gritted teeth.

“You sure?” Pietro asked, “‘Cause we’re headed all the way to New York. We’ll have to get the Professor to clear it with your school and families, though.”

“Who says we’re staying?”

“For whatever reason, Seether’s got it out for you, Rebecca,” Ray explained, “Trust me, I know the signs. It’ll be safer if you’re surrounded by people who can hold their own against her for at least a minute. Stay at home, and you’ll be on your own. That, and we can help you control your powers.”

Austin started to protest, but Rebecca interrupted him. “Okay,” she said, “But can we talk about something else besides Julia? Please, I really don’t want to think about that right now. So… what’s going to happen once we get wherever we’re going?”

“Well, there are probably going to be a lot of questions, but we can fill in what we know if you’re not comfortable with talking about it. Then you’ll probably get shown to your rooms. Rebecca, you’ll probably get your own, but Austin, you might wind up rooming with Sam because there’s only one free room left and Bobby…” Ray trailed off, not wanting to finish that thought.

“ _Base to Blackbird.”_ The radio crackled to life as Logan’s voice came on. _“Come in.”_

Jubilation picked it up. “Jubilee here, over.” She wiped her eyes dry, settling back into mission mode, at least for now.

“ _Okay, someone better tell us what just happened. We picked up a lot of power usage from you guys. You get into a fight or somethin’?”_

“Uh-huh. We found the twin mutants, too. Rebecca’s with us now, but Julia’s working for Apocalypse.”

“… _You’re crazy, kid. We took care of that bub months ago, remember?”_

“Well, if she gets her way, he might be coming back. Wolverine, she’s under Mesmero’s control, and she’s very powerful. She took us all on without breaking a sweat, and Scarlet Witch and Iceman…” Jubilation’s voice faltered, and Ray gently took the radio out of her hand.

“She can open portals to some place called the Spirit Realm,” he continued, “Iceman and Scarlet Witch are both stuck there now.”

“ _What?”_ Logan’s growl was accompanied by the _snickt_ of his claws popping out.

“Yeah. There was nothing we could do. She got Scarlet Witch first, and we had no idea what was going on at the time. Then Iceman sacrificed himself so that the rest of us could get away.” Jubilation choked out one sob, but otherwise kept her composure.

“ _Alright, come back home. We’ll need a full briefing with everyone else, including our new students.”_

“Huh? You mean there’s another new kid?”

“ _Yeah, Cannonball’s kid sister is joining us, remember? He and Spyke just took the Velocity to get her.”_

“Oh, yeah. Okay, we’re on our way right now. That’s me, Jubilee, Quicksilver, Multiple, Rebecca, and her boyfriend Austin. Oh, and we’ll need a spot for Austin to bunk in.”

“ _Yeah, we’ll take care of that. And when you get back, then Multiple can explain exactly why he’s with you when he’s **supposed** to be washing the X-Van for his little stunt in the Danger Room.”_

Ray turned to face a _very_ pale Jamie. “Better start digging your grave now, Squirt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh-oh, looks like Jamie's in trouble. Next chapter, Rebecca's introduced to the rest of the X-Men and Austin makes his first impression on a house full of mutants. Think he'll be able to keep his mouth shut and manage to not piss them all off?
> 
> EDIT 11/25/2016: Yes, I know the idea of them landing the Blackbird on Citadel Hill is insane. I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that, but I don't feel like changing it.
> 
> EDIT 2017/03/21: A sketch of what [Seether](http://orig10.deviantart.net/ec70/f/2015/243/4/b/seether_by_aquawraith-d97xcmy.jpg) looks like.


	3. The Newest X-Recruit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, before we go any further, I should fill you in on a few important things. Evan, Rahne, Jubilation, and Tabby are back with the X-Men, and they've been joined by Laura Kinney (X-23), Forge, Warren Worthington (Angel), Piotr Rasputin (Colossus) and Remy LeBeau (Gambit). I will be calling Rogue by her real name, Anna Adler (I don't think that's her real last name, but she was raised by Irene Adler aka Destiny)
> 
> Also, here's most of their ages, at least in this fic:
> 
> Scott, and Jean: (Class of 2001) - Forge is also their age
> 
> Kitty, Anna (Rogue), Kurt, Amanda, Lance, and Fred: Grade 12 (Class of 2002)
> 
> Rebecca, Julia, Austin, Ray, Pietro, Wanda, Evan, Todd, Tabby, and Roberto: Grade 11 (Class of 2003)
> 
> Sam, Bobby, Amara, Jubilation, and Alex: Grade 10 (Class of 2004)
> 
> Rahne and Laura: Grade 9 (Class of 2005)
> 
> Paige: Grade 8 (Class of 2006)
> 
> Jamie: Grade 7 (Class of 2007)
> 
> Paige and Jamie are in middle school, and everyone else listed goes to high school, except for Evan because even a holowatch can't hide all those spikes. So he's home-schooled. And Scott and Jean already graduated and Forge does go to school anymore, but you all knew that already.
> 
> One last thing, I'm going to do my best to write in the accents, but I can't promise I'll do a good job.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own XME or Paige (since she doesn't appear in XME)

_Thursday, January 24 th, 2002_

Rebecca gasped when she saw the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters through the jet windows. She’d known it would be big, but she hadn’t imagined a three-storey building bigger than the Metro Centre. The property it stood on was even bigger, about twice the size of the Public Gardens, complete with a large pool, a basketball court, and a baseball diamond. The entire estate was surrounded by a thick forest, which reminded her of Point Pleasant Park.

She was so enthralled by the sight that it took her a minute to realise that Ray was flying the jet right past the house, towards the woods instead. “Um… I think we just missed it,” she whispered.

“Nope. Hangar entrance is this way. Can’t exactly land on the front lawn.”

They continued until a magnificent waterfall appeared before them, and Ray angled the jet right towards the middle. Austin jumped up. “You’re flying us right into the middle of that?!” he shouted. Before he could make his way over to the controls, Pietro got up and grabbed his arm.

“Relax, would you?” he snapped.

Jubilation tapped a few buttons on the console, and a large boulder suddenly jutted out of the rock face, blocking the flow of the water and revealing two large metal door that were slowly sliding open, giving them access. The jet shot in and landed in a somewhat bumpy manner before rolling to a smooth stop.

The hatch on the bottom opened up. Ray, Jubilation, Jamie, and Pietro got out, and Austin and Rebecca followed apprehensively. The hangar was as large and spacious as everything else around here, and also housed another aircraft, with possibly room for one more. A small crowd of people was waiting by a set of elevator doors off to the left, many of them wearing dark spandex suits.

One of them, a well-built man with dark hair and a scowling expression, walked over. His gaze rested for a second on Jamie, who gulped, then moved to Rebecca.

She stared back, not sure whether she should be scared, or impressed, or what. Finally, he spoke: “This her?” Rebecca recognised his voice from the earlier radio conversation. Wolverine, wasn’t that what they'd called him?

“Yep,” Ray responded seriously.

“So what’s your power, miss?” Rebecca blinked. She vaguely remembered flying – sort of.

“Uh…” she mumbled, “I’m not… completely sure. I… I think I can fly, but other than that…”

“She might have some sort of shockwave ability,” Ray interrupted, “There were a couple times where she’d freak out and something we couldn’t see would knock us all over.” Rebecca blinked in surprise. She could recall feeling some sort of strange sensation once or twice during the fight. Like something within her had pushed out… like a shockwave emitting from her body.

She caught Austin staring out of the corner of her eye. His expression was difficult to read, but she thought she could make out a small trace of disgust. Rebecca bit her lip. Austin hated mutants. And now _she_ was one.

A redheaded woman stepped forward. She looked to be only a few years older than Rebecca. “Look, Rebecca,” she said, “I know this is a big change, but trust me, you’ll get used to it.” Rebecca looked at the new faces for the first time. The first one to catch her eye was a large blue ape-man crouching by the doors. Rebecca cringed at the sight of him. The rest of them weren’t as frightening. There was a tall guy with a red-tinted gold visor, a masked man with huge, feathery wings, a guy in a trench coat restlessly shuffling a deck of cards, a white-haired woman, a tall and muscular young man, a skinny Native-American guy, and a bald man in a wheelchair. This last one carried an aura of peace and kindness.

“Do not worry, Miss Reid,” he assured her, “This Institute is a safe place. Everyone here has had some difficulty adjusting, but I assure you, you’re among friends here.” Rebecca gave him a small smile of gratitude. He and the redhead seemed genuinely nice. “I am Professor Charles Xavier, the founder of this school.” He extended his hand, and she shook it. When Xavier offered the same to Austin, the latter instead stared at it like it was a slimy tentacle. Rebecca elbowed him slightly, and he gingerly shook the Professor’s hand. Then Xavier turned to the redhead. “Jean, will you please show Rebecca and Austin to their rooms? Rebecca will have the last empty one, Austin will have to stay with Sam until we can help Bobby. We’ll have to wait for Sam and Evan to get back with Paige, and of course everyone else comes home from school, before we break the news.”

“You mean they don’t know yet?” Jubilation interrupted.

“The only ones who know the outcome of this battle are all in this room. I would suggest not mentioning anything to the other students, besides Kurt, Kitty, and Anna, at least not until the briefing.”

The redhead, Jean, turned towards the elevator and gestured for Rebecca and Austin to follow. “Come on,” she said, “I’ll give you guys the tour.” They stepped into the elevator with her, Jubilation following right behind them. Pietro and Ray lingered behind, the former talking to the man with the cards, and the latter stalking off through another door labelled ‘Danger Room’. Jamie started after them, but was stopped by Wolverine’s hand on his shoulder.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the man growled, “You skipped out on your probation, kid. Don’t think you’re getting off scot-free.”

The elevator doors closed before he could plead for their help, and they ascended upwards.

“Hey,” Rebecca whispered to Austin, “Are we cool? You know, with this whole mutant thing?” She had to know how he was handling the news that she was a mutant.

Austin gave her an uncomfortable look. “We’ll talk about it later,” he whispered back.

The elevator slowed to a stop, and the doors slid open to reveal a carpeted hallway. Rebecca guessed they were in the main part of the mansion now. Jean led them down the corridor and into a large, open room with a wide staircase on one end and a set of double glass doors that apparently led out front on the other. “So this is the front entrance,” Jean explained, “The kitchen, dining room, and rec room are down the other hallway on the other side of the stairs there, and the elevator to all the lower levels is obviously the way we just came. Oh, and the back entrance is down that way, too.” She started up the stairs, which Jubilation had already started climbing. Rebecca and Austin followed Jean up to another long hallway, this one lined with doors. A glance back in the other direction showed something similar; Rebecca caught Jubilation slipping into one of those rooms. They quickly came to the first one on the left, which looked like it’d come off its hinges a few times. “All right, Austin, this is the room you’ll be sharing with Sam.” Austin reached for the door handle, but it turned and opened on its own. Surprisingly the room was empty; no one was there to have opened it. Rebecca glanced back at Jean, and saw that she had one hand outstretched. Did she just do that?

Inside, the room was very messy, more so on the right side than the left. Jean raised her hand again, and clothes and books and the occasional piece of food floated up the floor and flew into one of the dressers – the remains of the occupants’ snacks, however, went into the garbage can. “Bobby usually sleeps in here, but since he’s…” Like everyone else, Jean seemed to be at a loss for words once she started on Bobby and Wanda’s fates. A shadow crossed over her face for a few seconds, but then she shook it off. “So when Sam gets back and asks you why you’re here, just tell him to talk to us.”

They went back and the three of them doubled back and headed down to the other end of the hall, in the same direction Jubilation had gone. Jean telekinetically opened the door again to reveal a room with two beds, dressers, and desks. It looked like no one was staying in there.

“This’ll be your room, Rebecca,” Jean stated, “Besides staff and senior students, you’re the only one with your own room, at least until another girl joins. The other new girl, Paige, is going to stay with Laura across the hall.”

Rebecca looked around more closely. The room was nice and neat, the beds made, and the windows spotless. A set of wooden double doors was located on the other side, leading out to what Rebecca assumed to be a balcony. There were also two closets on opposite sides. She walked over and pushed the balcony doors open, gasping at the view. The sun was higher in the sky than it should’ve been; that confused her until she remembered the different time zones – New York was an hour behind Nova Scotia. “This is _really_ cool,” she said, turning to face Jean and Austin, “I could get used to living here.” She saw Austin frown at the statement.

Jean, on the other hand, smiled. “I’m glad you like it,” she replied, “But there’s one little thing we’ve got to take care of. I’m pretty sure the news of your ‘disappearance’ has reached your families by now. I don’t know about you two, but I’d want to let _my_ parents know I was all right.”

Rebecca gasped. Of course! Meghan and Chase were probably worried out of their minds! First Julia, and now her. Austin’s parents must be going crazy, too. “Where’s the phone?” she demanded.

“Outside the door.” Rebecca hurried out, pulling Austin’s hand as she passed him. The phone was sitting on a small table a few feet away from her door at the end of the hallway; Rebecca had been too excited about her room to notice.

She picked it up and took a deep breath before dialling her home number, remembering to punch in the 902 area code. It rang once… twice… After the third ring, she was about to hang up, but halfway through the fourth, she heard a _click_.

“ _Hello?”_

“Meghan, it’s Rebecca.”

“ _Oh, thank God! Are you okay? What happened? Where are you?”_

“I’m fine, Julia’s working for an evil mutant, and I’m in New York.”

“ _What? **What** happened to Julia? And **why** are you in New York?!”_

“She and I… We’re mutants. Her powers showed up yesterday right before she went missing, and mine did, like, an hour ago. All that commotion down at the harbour was us. Some evil psychic mutant guy got into her head, and she tried to kill me, Austin, and five other mutants.”

“ _She WHAT?!”_ Meghan shouted.

“I know, it’s crazy. We just barely got away, and two of the others still didn’t make it. We’re at their base right now.”

“ _Wait, in New York? Are you talking about those ‘X-Men’ people?”_

“Yeah. Those two mutants that go to my school are good friends of theirs. They want us to stay here for a while.”

“ _Are you crazy? No, we already lost your sister, we’re not losing you.”_

“Meg, she isn’t herself. She wants to kill me, and here I’m surrounded by people who can defend against her. And besides… I want to learn who to use _my_ powers right. They can teach me, and you and Chase and Rochelle could get caught in the crossfire if I come back home. This is for you guys, too.”

There was silence on the other line, except for the clanking sound of the old dishwasher running in the background. _“Okay,”_ Meghan finally whispered, _“Okay, you can stay there for a while. But you have to call every day and let us know how you’re doing, alright?”_

“Alright. I’ve gotta go now. Austin’s here, too, and he needs to call his folks as well. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. ‘Bye.”

“‘ _Bye, hon.” Click._

Rebecca handed the phone to Austin, and then leaned against the wall. So that was it. She would be staying in New York in a mansion full of super-powered strangers. Okay, so technically, she had powers of her own, but still.

Once Austin finished his phone call, he put his hand on her shoulder, steering Rebecca towards his new room. “We need to talk in private,” he bluntly told Jean. He shut and locked the door before turning to face her. “So what exactly did you mean when you asked if we were cool?”

Rebecca bit her lip. “Well…” she began, “I was wondering if it would still work out between us. I mean, I know how you feel about mutants. And now that I’m one, I was afraid you might…” She paused for a couple seconds, not sure how to phrase it. “Not want to go out anymore.” The very thought sent an unexpected tear tumbling from her eye. If he broke up with her, she didn’t know how she would cope, considering all the other chaos in her life right now. She needed someone to be there for her.

Austin spotted the bead of moisture running down her cheek before she could wipe it away, and moved closer, putting both his hands on her shoulders. “Babe, look: this doesn’t change anything. Sure, you’re a mutant…” It looked like it pained him to say that. “…But you’re still you. And while I can’t stand being around the rest of ‘em, let alone the thought of sharing a room with one, that doesn’t mean I'm not willing to make an exception for you. And besides, I _am_ staying here for you.” And with that, he pressed his lips almost forcefully to hers, and she giggled as they fell onto his new bed.

Austin was almost a completely different person when they kissed. He was rather stoic and reserved when they talked, so they just made out a hell of a lot more than other couples.

* * *

“What was that all about?” Tabitha asked, “From the way Jean’s face looked, it must’ve been something serious.”

“It was nothing,” Kitty reassured her teammate with a grin before entering her room.

As soon as the door closed behind her, however, Kitty let her fake smile drop. Slowly, as if in a daze, she dropped her schoolbag as well, made her way to the bed, and flopped down onto it. She hadn’t felt like this since Apocalypse had supposedly killed Ororo and the Professor. Bobby was like a brother to her, and she’d been getting close to becoming friends with Wanda. She knew everyone else was hit hard, too. Jubilation refused to come out of her room, without telling the other New Mutants why, and Ray was reportedly in the Danger Room, taking his frustration out on the laser cannons. Pietro was probably back at the Boarding House by now; he’d been the one to explain what’d happened – all the other witnesses being unavailable – and had zoomed off the second he was allowed.

A light knock brought Kitty back to the present. “Kitty?” It was Ororo.

“Come in,” she replied. Ororo quietly opened the door, still in uniform. She drifted in, sitting on the bed beside Kitty.

“How are you holding up?” she asked.

Kitty shrugged. “Okay, I guess. Everyone who already knows is miserable; it’s going be even worse when the news gets out to the rest of the students. I mean, just listen to Ray going at it downstairs.” The explosions could be heard even from there.

Ororo nodded in agreement. “Indeed. And if I know Roberto, he will undoubtedly join in. I haven’t seen him like this since Evan joined the Morlocks. He was very upset when they attacked him after he’d been one of them.”

A particularly loud explosion rumbled up from beneath them, and then all the noises stopped. “I think he just broke the Danger Room,” Kitty commented. She and Ororo exchanged looks for a second before running out of the room.

By the time they reached the elevator, the doors had opened up. Ray stepped out, his uniform charred and his face blank. He barely acknowledged their presence, aside from muttering: “Danger Room needs work,” as he brushed past them.

Logan was right behind him. “Kid demolished the entire arsenal,” he told them, “Wound up short-circuiting the central system. Never seen him use that much power since Porcupine joined the sewer-dwellers. Gonna take a while to fix, though. I’ll have to get Forge on that.”

“Hey, it’s better if he lets it out now,” Kitty pointed out, “and not later with a whole bunch of people around.”

Logan considered her statement, and then nodded in agreement. “Good point. Sparky may lose his cool a lot, but this is definitely one of his extreme moments, and his temper sure shows up in his powers. Last thing anyone needs is to be anywhere near him right when he’s like that.”

Kitty turned back to return to her room, but Ororo laid a hand on her shoulder. “Kitty,” she said, “Rebecca and Austin have gotten permission to stay here, but all they have in terms of clothing are their school uniforms. I came to you because someone needs to take them shopping, and I had a feeling that would make you feel better. Are you up for it?”

Kitty's spirits lifted instantly. “Shopping?” she squealed, “Hell yes!” With that, she tore off to the room Austin Jones would be sharing with Sam. She didn’t bother knocking or trying to open the door, she just phased her head through the wood. “Hey!” she chirped, completely startling the couple making out on Bobby’s – no, Austin’s bed.

The two of them abruptly pulled apart with the sound of a plunger being yanked from a toilet. “What the hell?!” Austin shouted, falling right off. He almost brought Rebecca down with him, but she suddenly stopped and hovered a foot off the floor.

Kitty chuckled. “Oops. Sorry. Mostly everyone here’s used to that by now.” She phased herself completely through the door and grinned at them. “Oh, and just so you’re warned, it’s the exact same thing with Kurt and his teleporting. So if a fuzzy blue guy poofs up beside you, try not to freak out, okay?”

Austin glared at her. He was a scrawny blond guy with brown eyes filled with a coldness that gave Kitty the chills. “What do you want?” he spat.

Kitty didn’t like his rude tone at all, but she continued on. “Well, if you’re going to be staying here and going to Bayville High with the rest of us, you’re going to need more than just those uniforms.” She gestured to the clothes the two of them were wearing. “So… we’re going shopping!” She jumped up and down for a full five seconds before she realised they were staring at her. “What? I like shopping. By the way, my name’s Kitty Pryde. But we use codenames while in training and on missions and stuff, so in that case, so in that case, call me Shadowcat.”

“Cool,” Rebecca commented. She had green eyes and black hair streaked with orange, tied up in a loose ponytail. “I wonder what mine’s going to be.”

Kitty shrugged. “Dunno. They usually have something to do with the mutant’s powers, and we need to study yours a bit more. I mean, take Sam for example. He can rocket around at high speeds and demolish pretty much everything he crashes into – he hasn’t perfected his control yet, so he crashes _a lot_ – and his codename’s Cannonball. Except for when he hits something he can’t break, then he’ll either stop or ricochet off, and then we like to call him Pinball, even though he hates it. But enough about that. Are we going shopping, or what?”

Austin, who by then had picked himself up off the floor, shrugged. “Yeah, whatever,” he grumbled, “Guess we’ll have to go at some point.” He turned to help Rebecca, and jumped little when he finally noticed she was floating.

Rebecca gave him a small, weak grin before carefully twisting around in mid-air and setting her feet on the floor. “Don’t worry,” Kitty assured her, “You’ll get the hang of it. The first time my powers emerged, I fell through my bed and two floors!”

With that, she turned and phased back through the door. She heard the lock clicking behind her, and the door opening.

The three of them headed down the hallway while Kitty kept on talking. “Now, you’ll get funny looks if you go out in public with those things on, so you’ll each have to borrow a shirt from another student. I think Kurt and Tabitha would be about the right size.” They stopped at Tabitha and Amara’s room first, and, as was her habit, Kitty simply phased her head through the door.

Tabitha was inside, chatting animatedly with Amara. “Hey, guys. I’m taking some new students shopping. All they have to wear is their school uniforms, so Tabby, Rebecca needs to borrow one of your shirts until she gets stuff of her own, okay?”

Tabitha nodded, got up, and went over to her dresser. She chucked a few clothes over her shoulder before producing a blue long-sleeved shirt and tossing it to Kitty. “Have fun!” she told her.

Kurt wasn’t in his room, so Kitty just grabbed a shirt and left a note. While Austin and Rebecca quickly changed in the two hallway bathrooms and Kitty waited outside, Scott, Anna, and Warren walked by. “Hey, guys!” she greeted them, “I’m driving Rebecca and Austin to the mall. Anyone want to come?”

“You’re _drahvin’_ them?” Anna asked.

“Uh-huh.”

For some reason, they all looked very nervous all of a sudden. Kitty wondered why. Was there some sort of anti-mutant protest she hadn’t gotten wind of yet? Something that could present a danger to them? Oh well. If anything came up, she could get them to safety, between her powers and her awesome driving skills.

“I’ll come along!” Scott volunteered immediately, “Hell, _I’ll_ drive!”

Kitty couldn’t help but pout a little. One thing she didn’t understand was why she _never_ got to drive. Oh well. “Sure. I’m just waiting for them to change into some stuff they borrowed from Kurt and Tabitha, and then we can hit the road.”

At that moment, Rebecca came out of one of the bathrooms. She jumped a little when she saw all the people there. “Oh, uh… hi,” she greeted them nervously.

“Hi.” Scott stepped forward. “I don’t think I gave you my name earlier. I’m Scott Summers, one of the Instructors here at the Institute. And this is Anna Adler and Warren Worthington the Third.” Rebecca quickly got over her shyness and shook hands with them. “And I’m also your ride to the mall today.”

“Oh, you don’t have to go to so much trouble.”

“Believe me, I don’t mind. I run our school carpool, so driving people around is no problem. We’re waiting for one more, right?”

“Right here.” Kitty jumped a little when Austin spoke up from behind her. For a guy who’d practically yelled at her for startling _him_ , he moved pretty quietly. He stood there, impatiently tugging at the dark green turtleneck he was now wearing. It looked a little tight on him. “We going or not?” Kitty felt her dislike for the guy grow. Rebecca was really nice, but did she have to bring _him_ along?

“Come on, my car’s out in the garage,” Scott stated in reply. Austin shrugged and followed them, skirting around Anna and Warren with an expression of disgust.

* * *

Bayville Mall was pretty impressive. Rebecca noted that it was only slightly smaller than Park Lane Mall back home. The chatty girl, Kitty, talked all the way there. Austin was grumbling about wanting his iPod – which was also back home – within less than a minute. Rebecca, on the other hand, hung on to her every word, fascinated at how _normal_ these people were.

On the flight down there, she’d still been in shock over the earlier events, but had gotten to learn a bit about some of them. As far as she could tell, Jamie was the youngest – and hated it. Jubilation seemed very close to that Bobby guy, given her reaction to his fate, and Ray’s decision to leave. Pietro had distanced himself a little from the others; he was probably more comfortable around his own team, the Brotherhood.

Then there was Ray. He was tougher to decode. He had kept his face locked in the same serious expression all the time, only the clenching of his fists or a dark glance at the floor ever giving away his anger, at least until he got someplace where he could smash stuff, like the ‘Danger Room’ (Kitty had mentioned that he’d been smashing stuff down there until he’d broken everything). It was like his heart was hidden behind a mask, one that had very few holes in it. She didn’t know how she’d figured all that out. She was no psychologist.

All in all, these mutants didn’t seem anything like the monsters the media had cast them as. And Rebecca was glad for that. She never liked judging people before she’d even gotten to know them; her parents had drilled that into her brain ever since she was a child, and Meghan had taken over once the girls had come to live with her. Chase had joined in on the day the two of them had started dating seriously.

When they reached the mall, Kitty immediately dragged Rebecca off, leaving the boys to their own devices, into the girliest boutique she’d even set foot in. Not that she’d been to a lot; most of her wardrobe came from second-hand shops. But Kitty insisted that she’d pay for it all – on the Professor’s credit, of course – so Rebecca was soon being shoved item through frilly pink item literally right through the changing room door. She wondered how people were taking this, having mutants in the store. Kitty replied, when Rebecca finally asked her, that she’d already been on a first-name basis with the manager before the secret of mutants was let out, and the store wasn’t going to lose its most valued customer by barring mutants from shopping there.

After about fifteen minutes – although it felt much, _much_ longer to Rebecca – Kitty had a huge epiphany that the clothes there just weren’t working out. So they went to the local bargain store, where Rebecca was _very_ satisfied. They bought a few pairs of jeans, a couple t-shirts, and a pair of black elbow-length fingerless gloves that she put on the second they left the store. Then it was a quick trip to Target to pick up the necessary items like socks, underwear, and such. Rebecca planned on asking Meghan to send some of her stuff down by air mail, but she’d need a few things to get by on until then.

An hour later, they met up with Scott and Austin at the food court. The boys had a total of two bags compared to the girls’ half-dozen. As soon as he saw her, Austin instantly relaxed. She sat down next to him, and he whispered to her: “I thought you might’ve been abducted or something.”

“In a way, I was,” she replied, sticking her tongue out at Kitty.

The brunette in question made a face back. “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” she retorted, “It’s not _my_ fault you have, like, _no_ taste in designer fashion.”

“She locked you in a changing room and shoved her choices in at you, didn’t she?” Scott interrupted. It was hard to read his expression with those weird red shades of his – did he _ever_ take those off? – but the smirk and raised eyebrow told all, despite his eyes being hidden. “It happens every time she takes someone shopping.”

Kitty made a face at him, too, before jumping up. “Okay, so I am, like, _so_ parched. I’m going to grab a smoothie from the juice bar. Any orders?”

“Orange juice,” Scott replied.

“If they’ve got a strawberry-banana smoothie with yogurt, I’d like one,” Rebecca added.

“I’m fine,” Austin muttered.

Kitty bounced over to a nearby counter, and as soon as she was out of earshot, Scott leaned over. “Just so you know,” he half-whispered, “There were a few unwritten rules Jean never went over with you guys. There’s three major ones, and it’s best for your own personal safety that you stick to them. Number one: _never_ argue with Logan or Laura unless you _really_ need to; Two: _never_ let Kitty behind the wheel of _any_ vehicle, because she drives like a maniac; and Three: the topic of the Morlocks – I’ll explain that later – is out of the question when Ray’s in the room unless absolutely necessary. It’s a soft subject for him, and it gets him into a bad mood. And Ray in a bad mood is a very dangerous thing.”

Kitty returned at that point. She handed Scott and Rebecca their drinks, then plunked down and started sipping at her own. Before the conversation could continue any further, Scott’s cell phone rang. “Hello? … Okay… We’ll be right there. Thanks, Jean. ‘Bye.” He hung up. “Sam and Evan are almost back with Paige. We should return to the Institute now.”

* * *

Sam shouldered the pink backpack – one of the dozen holding his sister’s stuff – and dragged the heavy suitcase down the ramp of the Velocity. Why did girls need so much stuff? While Paige and Evan also lugged as much as they could, they’d still have to make a second trip to get everything out.

Sam noticed that the Blackbird was back in the hangar. “Check it out,” he said, doing his best to point it out with both hands full, “Looks like Bobby, Jubes, and Ray are back.”

Upon their arrival above ground – it was a miracle the elevator was able to hold all that weight – Evan, Sam, and Paige were greeted by a surprisingly uneasy Tabitha. “Hey, guys.” She gave them a weak attempt at a grin. Immediately, Sam felt a sense of slight dread come over him. If _Tabby_ couldn’t put on a decent smile, something had to be wrong.

Evan picked it up at the same time, and moved forward. “Tabby, what happened?” he asked.

“Not sure, but everyone who already knows is pretty upset about it. All I know is that Bobby didn’t come back with Ray and Jubes. But we’re about to have a briefing about it. C’mon, we’re just waiting for Scott and Kitty to get back with the new kids.”

Upon reaching the rec room, Sam saw pretty much the entire residence of the mansion crammed in there: the Professor, Ms. Munro, Mr. Logan, Mr. McCoy, Remy (it was weird calling Gambit by his real name) Warren, Jean, Kurt, Anna, Ray, Jubilation, Jamie, Rahne, Roberto, Amara, Alex, and Laura. The latter five seemed just as uneasy, worried, and confused as Sam felt.

Five seconds later, the sound of a car engine could be heard, and within a minute, Scott and Kitty hurried in, towing a boy and girl Sam had never seen before. The four of them went to the ‘front’ of the assembly, where the Professor sat facing everyone else with the instructors and senior students – and, surprisingly, Ray. Now was the point where the Prof would tell everyone to settle down, and Mr. Logan would clear his throat _very_ loudly when they inevitably didn’t, but the room was already dead quiet. Everyone was dying to know what had happened.

“Before we discuss anything else,” the Professor began, “I would like to introduce everyone to Paige Guthrie, Sam’s sister.” One or two people waved, but their attention was clearly on the mysterious news they were waiting for. “She will be joining us to learn to control her powers, like the rest of you. And now, I must bring us to the events of Bobby, Ray, and Jubilation’s mission.” By now, everyone was on the edge of their seats.

He rolled his chair back a little, and Ray stood up. “Bobby, Jubes, and I went up to Halifax to investigate that new mutant signature. It wound up being two mutants, identical twin sisters from Pietro and Wanda’s school. Yesterday, one of them, Julia, went missing around the time she was detected. The three of us met up with Wanda and Pietro at the museum where they were on a field trip with the other twin, Rebecca. Then Julia showed up.” He swallowed, clearly not liking whatever had happened next. “Apocalypse is still out there,” he stated bitterly, “And Mesmero’s got Julia under his control. She’s extremely powerful, and we barely managed to get out of there in one piece. But one of her powers is to open these sort of portals to another world, the Spirit Realm, or something like that. She… she got Bobby and Wanda. They’re gone.”

Sam felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. No. Not Bobby. Not his best friend. He watched the reactions of the other students. Jubilation – who’d finally been coaxed out of her room – choked out a sob, and Rahne gasped and hugged her. Roberto bleakly spat a string of Portuguese profanities at the floor. Alex and Laura grasped each other’s hands, then realised what they were doing, and pulled apart.

As for Sam himself, he just stared in shock at Ray, silently begging him to say it wasn’t true, for it all just to be a really bad joke. But it wasn’t. Amara and Paige hugged him from either side, Amara burying her face in his shoulder and wetting his shirt with her tears.

Sam then noticed the other girl, the one he still didn’t know. She had pain written all over her face – and was that a bit of guilt? Her companion put his arm around her uncomfortably. He’d been looking rather bored until she’d started sniffling; now his attention was all on her. In his expression, however, Sam only saw mild pity and agitation.

After letting the news sink in, Ray gestured to the two of them. “Rebecca and her boyfriend Austin are going to be staying here with us for now. Sam, Austin’s bunking with you.” And without another word, he sat down.

The Professor rolled forward. “Thank you, Ray. Now, I understand that this loss is hard on all of us. But keep in mind, if there is a way for Bobby and Wanda to return from the Spirit Realm, they will find it. Until then, we have to stay strong. Rest assured, we are doing everything we can to find a solution. That is all, you are dismissed.”

Everyone drifted out in small groups. Rahne and Roberto did their best to comfort Jubilation. Jean leaned on Scott, but didn’t cry; she was a leader figure, Sam knew she had to put on a strong front for the rest of them.

Sam numbly ignored his girlfriend and sister. He just wandered out of the room and around the mansion, lost in his thoughts. His best friend was gone. Sure, Professor Xavier had said there was a chance they could get him back, but how much of a chance?

Sam was so preoccupied with his thoughts, he didn’t realise he’d wandered all the way back to his room until someone spoke to him. “So, you’re Sam, huh?” Austin was standing across the room, putting clothes into what had previously been Bobby’s dresser. All of Bobby’s stuff had been unceremoniously tossed into the corner.

“Yeah,” Sam mumbled, “I guess we’re roommates for now.”

“Guess so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so next time, which will hopefully be soon because I was supposed to have this up last week, Rebecca and Austin will start at Bayville High, and tensions will rise.
> 
> Until then, R&R. Please, somebody? I'm starting to feel unloved.


	4. First Day of School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So just to be clear, the Brotherhood is back at Bayville High, and they tend to stick with the X-Men because of all the anti-mutant harassment. Safety in numbers, right?
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own X-MEN Evolution or any of its characters, only Rebecca, Julia, and Austin

_Friday, January 25 th, 2002_

The school was abuzz the next morning with the news that a new mutant had enrolled. Rebecca was the focus of everyone’s stares and whispers. Austin got dirty looks as well; people assumed he was one of the muties because he associated with them. By lunch, he’d gotten himself detention for decking a guy who’d called him one. It was worth it.

The muties all sat at their own cluster of tables in the corner of the cafeteria. There was a total of nineteen of them: Austin, Rebecca, Shadowcat, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Berzerker, Sunspot, Boom-Boom, Magma, Cannonball, Jubilee, Wolfsbane, Havoc, Talon, Nightcrawler’s human girlfriend Amanda Sefton, and the four ‘Brotherhood Boys' Shadowcat had introduced as Lance Alvers, Fred Dukes, Todd Tolansky, and Pietro Maximoff, who he’d already had the displeasure of meeting. The white-haired mutant plunked himself down next to Boom-Boom, absent-mindedly playing with his fork.

Austin hated this. He was sharing a table with sixteen mutie freaks – he didn’t quite count Rebecca as one of _them_ yet – and the mutie-lover Sefton. Sure, Rebecca had powers, but that was just a flaw to be overlooked. One flaw. She was the same as before otherwise: his girl. _His_.

People avoided looking at them, chatting away in their own little world, and Austin couldn’t help but envy them. They didn’t have to _live_ with these creatures. They didn’t have to pretend to be civil to the guy with the retractable claws, because they didn’t have to deal with him at all. Austin had learned to stay away from that guy, Wolverine, within minutes of returning from the mall. That mutie sure didn’t appreciate being called a mutie.

It sickened him to see _them_ all acting so normal. They’d probably started out that way, but spending time with their own kind had twisted their minds. He knew that, just below the surface, they were all like the Juggernaut, or that Apocalypse guy. That was his main reason for going with Rebecca. Maybe if he stuck with her and kept her head straight, the muties wouldn’t gain another follower. As for her powers, his dad was a genetics expert working on a cure for the mutant disease. Once that problem was solved, then maybe things would go back to the way they should be.

* * *

Gym class. Great. Rebecca _hated_ gym class. She just wasn’t capable of doing all that physical activity. And today, it was dodgeball. Austin, Roberto, Ray, and Tabitha were all in that small class, and the teacher decided it would be fun to pit the human students against the four mutants. The balls were hurled at them with hateful ferocity. Rebecca hung near the back while the rest of her team easily dodged and caught the flying spheres of doom. Tabitha and Ray had amazing aim, and Roberto was always handing his catches off to them (he could be accused of using his powers to throw them extra hard, regardless of whether he actually did it or not, so it was best to just avoid that situation altogether).

A ball came flying towards Rebecca’s face, and she shrieked and dove to the floor just in time. Ray jogged over to fetch it. Rebecca was a little annoyed when he chuckled at the sight of her cowering on the floor. “Need a hand?” he asked. She accepted the hand he offered her and let him help her up.

Another ball came hurtling out of nowhere and nailed Ray on the side of the head. Austin was standing on the front lines, smirking in triumph. “Hey!” Tabby yelled, “No head shots! Coach!”

But the Gym teacher shrugged. “I didn’t see anything,” she stated, “Continue play! Reid, quit hiding in the back!” Rebecca slowly crept forward, and suddenly a hailstorm of dodgeballs pelted her. She limped her way over to the bench and sat down, merely content to just watch.

Austin soon joined her as Ray got his revenge by hitting him square in the chest. “You okay?” he asked.

Rebecca rubbed her left arm, where she’d taken a pretty nasty hit. “Severely bruised, but I’ll live,” she replied, “By the way, what was that damn head shot for?”

“Huh?”

“You _meant_ to hit Ray on the head. Why?”

Austin frowned. “He deserved it. He was making a move on you.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes. “He was helping me up. It was just a little common courtesy.”

“Didn’t look that way from where I was standing. Why are you defending him, anyway? He’s a freak!”

Rebecca turned away from Austin bitterly. “Then what does that make me?” she snapped, doing her best to hide her pain.

* * *

After the final bell, Rebecca found herself with a problem: she didn’t have a ride back to the Institute. Ms. Munro had driven many of them down in the X-Van, but she wouldn’t be coming to pick them up. Something about a family emergency down in New York City.

She was standing on the sidewalk, trying to figure out what to do, when a car pulled up in front of her. Roberto was at the wheel, with Rahne in the passenger seat and Ray in the back. “Need a lift?” Rahne asked. Rebecca nodded gratefully and hopped in next to ray.

“Thanks. I was afraid I’d have to walk home.”

“Bad idea,” Roberto stated darkly as he pulled out of the parking lot, “It’s dangerous to go alone. Too much risk of getting jumped. Mutant-hater gangs roam the area between here and the Institute, looking for us. We always travel in groups of three, minimum. Safety in numbers, and all that.”

Rebecca shuddered. “I had no idea it was this bad,” she commented, “I mean, today has been hell.”

“Well, that’s the way it is,” Ray muttered, “You’ll get used to it; we’ve all had to.”

“It was even worse back home,” Rahne added, “After the world learned about us, my _Máthair_ had me sent home. People kept callin’ me a demon, and all sorts of things. I couldn’ae even leave the house, or there’d be mobs comin’ after me, like when my powers first surfaced. I grew up in a very religious area, you see, and anything beyond normal explanation was blamed on the Devil, including me.”

Roberto tried to put an arm around her to comfort her, but then the car hit a patch of ice, and he frantically grabbed the steering wheel to keep from spinning out of control.

When the car swerved, Rebecca was reminded of The Crash. She gasped and grabbed onto something, squeezing her eyes shut.

“Uh… Rebecca?” She opened her eyes to see Rahne twisted around in her seat and Roberto staring at her through the rear-view mirror. Both of them wore expressions of confusion and concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Her grip on whatever she was holding loosened a little. “It’s just… my parents died in a car crash. I was there, and when we swerved just now, it just reminded me of all that. But I’m fine, now. Really. Sorry if I worried you guys. Forgive me?”

“If you let me have my arm back, sure.” Startled, Rebecca realised the thing she was holding onto for dear life was indeed Ray’s right arm. She let go immediately.

When they approached the middle school, instead of passing by, Roberto pulled into the parking lot, Sam right behind them on his bike. Jamie and Paige were waiting on the curb together. Paige was, to their concern, sobbing into Jamie’s shoulder. Sam immediately jumped off his motorbike and hurried up to his distraught little sister.

Rebecca rolled down her window. “What happened?” she asked. Rahne jumped out and tried to help comfort Paige, and Ray slid over so that his head was poking out the window, right next to Rebecca. He was so close, their faces almost brushed together.

“Some of the kids ganged up on her at lunch,” Jamie replied quietly, “I got held up by my math teacher for a while, but I got away before things got physical.”

“They didn’t hurt her, did they?” Sam growled.

A couple boys walking by pulled up a couple of snowballs and hurled them at the mutants, then ran away laughing. “Freaks!” one of them shouted.

Roberto was out of the car in a second, but instead of going after the boys like Rebecca predicted, he vaulted over the hood and blocked Sam from doing so. “Let it go,” he cautioned, “They’re just a bunch of kids being stupid. It’s not worth it.”

“Robbie, they made my baby sister cry. _No one_ gets away with that.”

“Look, if you go after those idiots, it’ll only make things worse. It’ll give them and their parents enough reason to have us all banned from school for good. Do you honestly think that’ll help?”

Sam sighed. “Fine,” he relented, “C’mon, Paige.” He stalked back over to his bike, putting on his helmet and handing a spare to his sister.

Paige sniffed and brushed away her remaining tears before turning to Jamie. “Thanks for sticking up for me,” she told him, giving him a light peck on the cheek.

Jamie stiffened and turned bright red as Paige got on behind her brother, and the Guthries roared off. Roberto and Rahne both got back in the car, and after a few seconds, Rebecca opened her door and dragged the shocked Jamie in between her and Ray. “Come on, Short Stuff, we haven’t got all day.”

Ray elbowed the kid gently. “What’s with the face?” he teased, “You’re as red as a tomato.” Jamie’s blush grew deeper with obvious embarrassment. “Aw, looks like our little Jamie’s growing up.”

“Oh, leave him alone, Sparky,” Rahne told him off. Ray responded by firing off the tiniest of energy bolts, frizzing her hair. “Hey!”

“Only Mr. Logan gets away with calling me that. Got it, _Pup_?”

Rahne growled at him – literally growled – but remained silent for the rest of the drive, trying in vain to fix her hair.

* * *

“Cool,” Rebecca breathed as she stood in the high-tech control room – specifically next to the window overlooking the massive space that was the Danger Room. She had her nose pressed against the glass, watching as Forge worked to repair a distorted gun-thingy. The whole room was full of broken weapons that Rebecca assumed to have been deadly before their demise.

“It’s even cooler when it’s in working order,” Mr. Logan commented from behind her, “‘Course, it would be that way a lot more often if Sparky here didn’t keep breaking everything.”

“Hey!” Ray protested, “This is the first time I’ve actually broken the whole thing.”

“Then it’ll be the first time you help Forge fix the whole thing.” Rebecca turned to see Mr. Logan clapping him roughly on the back. Ray groaned and shuffled towards the elevator.

“Great,” she heard him mumble, “Already got a ton of homework. Mrs. Hart’s gonna kill me.”

Rebecca chuckled before turning back to the window. A section a few feet to her right had shattered, leaving a large, gaping hole. She carefully stepped around the glass and leaned out. A sudden thought came to her. She closed her eyes, focused, and soon felt her feet lift off the floor. Rebecca pictured herself floating forward, out, through the hole and over the Danger Room.

“Nice!” Rebecca opened her eyes at the sound of Ray’s voice. He and Forge were standing below her, looking up and applauding. She laughed and waved to them, but then she suddenly stopped floating and started falling. _‘Shit!’_ her thoughts screamed.

Rebecca screeched and shut her eyes as she plummeted. She expected to hit the floor, but a pair of arms caught her before that could happen. She cracked one eye open and saw Ray grinning down at her. “Not bad,” he commented, “But here’s a tip: _Stay in the air_.”

“Thanks,” Rebecca retorted sarcastically, “Now put me down!”

“Oh, right.” Ray set her back on her feet.

“This place is amazing, by the way,” she commented, “If it means I can see this room in action sooner, I could lend a hand.”

“Sure, that'd be great!” Forge agreed, “Ray’ll be blitzing the bigger chunks of debris apart, and you can pile up the pieces over there, okay?”

Rebecca nodded. Anything to help. This place was already feeling like home, and she wanted to pull some more weight around here.

* * *

‘ _Stupid muties. Stupid, stupid, fucking stupid. They’re ruining my life.’_ Austin trudged out of the school, grumbling all the way. He hated Bayville. He hated the mutants. He hated it all at the moment. He hoped Rebecca would hurry up and get control of her powers, and that someone would do something about her crazy sister. Then they could go home.

The mutie called Jubilee walked behind him, wisely keeping her distance. She’d gotten detention for not completing the homework assigned yesterday. Berzerker, apparently, had been lucky enough to not have a lot of homework, and so had just barely managed to escape detention. Havoc and Talon weren’t far behind. She’d threatened a guy, and Havoc had protested when she’d gotten detention for it.

The big, black X-Van pulled up along the curb in front of them, with Wolverine at the wheel. Austin followed Havoc and Jubilee into the back while Talon climbed into the front. “School sucks!” Talon snapped, “A kid throws an _apple core_ at me, I simply growl at him, _I_ get detention! Why’d I agree to this again?"

“The hall monitor accused her of threatening the dude,” Havoc added, “I tried to tell him what really happened, and he’s just like: ‘Detention, Mr. Summers!’ It’s so unfair!”

“The whole world is going to shit,” Jubilee grumbled.

Austin said nothing. He couldn’t think of anything that might not piss Wolverine off.

As the Mutie School loomed into the distance, the muties were _still_ complaining. Wolverine didn’t say anything, either. He just grunted once or twice. Austin couldn’t wait to get out of that van. He had to find Rebecca. He could see right through the human façade these freaks were putting on, but she was falling for it hook, line, and sinker. Who knew how much they’d been poisoning her brain in the hour he’d left her alone?

Berzerker was the one Austin was most wary of, even more than Phoenix or Professor X. His actions in gym class _had_ to be an effort to get closer to her, and it was working; Rebecca was already letting her guard down. She’d insisted that the move he’d made on her was just a gesture of ‘common courtesy’. As if the mutants were even capable of that! Was she so quickly becoming blind to whatever they were really planning?

Austin jumped out as soon as they stopped in the garage and made his way to his temporary room. He dumped his stuff on the bed, then headed to Rebecca’s dorm (at least she had her own room). It was empty.

Just then, Boom-Boom walked by with Magma. “Where’s Rebecca?” he demanded.

“I think she’s helping Ray and Forge repair the Danger Room,” Boom-Boom replied.

Austin cursed loudly. Rebecca. In the ‘Danger Room’. Alone. With Berzerker and the smart one. Dammit! She just wasn’t making this any easier for him! “Where’s that?”

“Down the elevator,” Magma explained, “Second sub-floor.”

Austin took off down the hall, ignoring Boom-Boom when she called: “A thank-you would be nice!” Whatever. He didn’t _have_ to give these creatures any more respect than what was necessary to keep himself and Rebecca alive.

He burst out of the elevator doors when they finally opened up, down another long hall, and into a large metal room with a huge pile of twisted scrap metal in a corner. He saw Berzerker blasting a bigger chunk to bits, and then Rebecca picked a few pieces up and carried them over to the small mountain. “Hey, Austin!” she called as she spotted him, “Wanna give us a hand?”

Austin walked over, grabbed her arm, and started pulling her back towards the door. The debris clanged loudly as it fell out of her hands. “Hey!” she yelped, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Let GO!” Something hit Austin hard, like a solid wall moving at high speed. He let go in shock as he was launched back, skidding to a stop on the smooth metal floor. “Oh my God! Austin, are you okay?!” He heard three sets of footsteps running over to him.

“Shockwaves,” Berzerker commented, “I told you so.”

“Guess I owe you a few bucks,” Forge groaned.

“Would you guys focus?” Rebecca snapped, “Austin, can you hear me? Open your eyes!”

Groggily, Austin did so. The world was all fuzzy and blurry for a second, and then slid into focus. Rebecca, Berzerker, and Forge were all standing over him. He groaned and sat up. Most of the pain was in his head, neck, and shoulders, which had taken most of the impact when he’d landed on the floor.

“I’m so sorry,” Rebecca apologised, “I’ve really got to get control over this stuff.”

“Clearly,” Austin grumbled. She needed to learn control if she was ever going to be able to live without any freaky powers. At least until a cure was found.

“We should probably get you to the infirmary,” Forge stated, at the same time digging into his pocket and handing some bills to Berzerker. “Mr. McCoy can give you a quick look-over, make sure you haven’t got a concussion or anything.”

Nuh-uh. No way in hell was he going to let some mutie examine him. He couldn’t even remember which one this ‘Mr. McCoy’ guy was; Austin wasn’t bothering to learn all their human aliases. After all, they weren’t really human.

“I’m fine,” he snapped, “I just need to talk to Rebecca. _Alone_.” With that, he stood up – glad that the room didn’t start spinning when he did – and started pulling Rebecca out again. She yanked her arm out of his grasp, but continued behind him.

“Okay, what’s with you today?” she asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

“ _Me_? What’s with _you_? Don’t you remember what these things are?”

“Yeah, these _people_ are mutants, like me.”

“No, they’re _not_ like you! You’ve gotta stop thinking of them as humans! They’re not!”

“THEN WHAT MAKES ME SO DIFFERENT?!” she shouted suddenly.

“You haven’t had your powers long enough to become one of them yet!” Austin’s frustration was increasing. Rebecca just didn’t understand that he was doing what was best for her. She didn’t _know_ what was best for her. “Problem is, I don’t know how long that’ll last, since you insist on hanging around Berzerker and all the others!”

“Oh, will you stop that? There’s nothing wrong with me having a few guy friends! It was bad enough when you kept trying to get me to cancel rehearsal so I wouldn’t be hanging with Chris and Matty, and don’t you deny it, but this is getting _really_ old! You need to lay off!”

“You’ve got to open your eyes! Look at what happened to Julia! A few hours alone with one of them turned her into a monster! And you’ll end up some way!” But as soon as Julia’s name left his lips, Rebecca had dashed out, not bothering to listen to his warning.

Austin growled and punched the wall in anger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so that's the end of this chapter. Think Rebecca and Austin will be able to patch things up? Do we really WANT them to? Find out next weekend, but until then, Read and Review!


	5. Love Triangle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and welcome back to the newest chapter of Seether! I finally got a review, thank you BellaRayne! Okay, so just in case you've forgotten what happened last chapter, Rebecca and Austin started at Bayville High, and then they got in a big fight because Austin's a real jerkass.
> 
> DISLAIMER: I do not own XME, only Rebecca, Austin, Julia, Megan, Chase, Rochelle, Chris, Matty, Lynzi, Damien, and Eryn. I also do not own the Beach Boys, or Green Day and their song 'Burnout'.

_Friday, January 25 th, 2002_

Rebecca slammed the door behind her with so much force, it was a wonder it didn’t fly off the hinges. However, the handle did make a hole in the wall when she shoved it open. Not that Rebeccea cared at the moment, or even noticed. She collapsed on her bed, still shaking in pain and anger. What was wrong with the world? Seventy-two hours ago, the issue of mutants hadn’t made much of a difference in her life. Sure, she’d avoided the Maximoff twins like everyone else, but mostly out of fear of Wanda – that girl was scary with that attitude of hers. She’d had no hate for mutants, but no real love for them, either. She’d considered herself to be ‘neutral’. Her own life had been her priority.

Then her powers had surfaced, and everything had turned upside-down. In her head, Rebecca went over all the pros and cons of the situation.

Okay, the positive stuff… well, for one, she could _fly_. She now had a bunch of new friends. Meghan and Chase were fine with her being a mutant. Austin… actually, she’d have to think that one over a little more.

As for the negatives, she’d had to start at a new school, she was miles away from her home and family, her classmates had hated her from the beginning, her relationship with Austin was currently _very_ unstable at the moment, and oh yeah, her own twin sister was set out to kill her!

Rebecca felt tears emerge at that thought. Why? Why her? Why _Julia_? Why did it have to be them? It wasn’t right, not right at all. She’d never imagined that her Jules was even capable of so much hatred. It was as if her sister was still missing. With a painful stab to her heart, Rebecca realised that she might as well be.

It was official. She _hated_ being a mutant. These new powers weren’t worth all this.

A soft knock on the door reached her ears. Hastily, Rebecca wiped away her tears. “Come in,” she called. The door opened a fraction, and Ray poked his head in. Crap. He was one of the _last_ people she wanted to have to see her like this.

“I heard you and Jones yelling,” he said, “You okay?”

Rebecca sniffed. She probably looked like a total mess. “You heard us?”

“I think _everyone_ heard you. Don’t avoid the question.”

Rebecca sat up from her sprawling position, pulled her legs up, and wrapped her arms around them. “Hard to tell. I’ve just decided I hate being a mutant, so whether or not I’m okay is just a matter of opinion.”

Ray sighed. “Oh boy. The ‘I Hate My Mutant Life’ Phase. Well, I guess it’s better if you get through that sooner rather than later.”

“ _What_ Phase?”

“The one where you think your life sucks just because of your mutation. We’ve all had our moments, some of us more than once. I think Anna holds the record for the most.” He sighed again and slipped the rest of the way in, crossing to sit next to her. “Look, I know this is tough, but you should know, there’s probably a lot of good stuff you haven’t considered.”

“Hmph. I’ve thought it all over, and the only ones are the powers themselves, the fact that my cousins are okay with it all, and I’ve met you guys. And that’s completely awesome and all, but everything else… it’s total shit!” She pounded on the bed with one fist. Ray shifted a couple inches closer, and placed an arm around her. Rebecca sighed and continued. “I’ve lost my sister, Ray. I mean, I know she’s alive, but she’s not herself anymore. She may as well be dead!” A fresh wave of tears emerged. “Why? Why does she hate me all of a sudden? Or what if she’s always hated me, and I never realised it? It must have been something I did. This is _all_ my fault!” She couldn’t say another word; she was sobbing too hard into Ray’s shoulder.

It really _was_ her own fault. If only she’d bothered to pay attention to her twin sister. Julia was always the perceptive one, the one who would comfort her sister when she was upset. Rebecca couldn’t even remember ever doing the same for her twin. She’d never been there for her. She couldn’t blame Julia for hating her.

Ray gently pulled her out of his now damp shoulder, and turned it so that they were making direct eye contact. “No,” he told her firmly, “It’s not. _Apocalypse_ is the one to blame here. He’s very manipulative, and we know he managed to get his telepath follower Mesmero back. Between the two of them, they can make people do and say things they wouldn’t even _think_ of doing or saying normally. They can mess with people’s minds, their emotions… What it all comes down to is that Julia doesn’t hate you. They’re just making her _think_ she does. So don’t even think of blaming yourself for one more second, got it?”

Rebecca stared at him in shock. She couldn’t think of a reply.

Another knock on the door saved her from having to come up with one. Without waiting for her to deny or allow him access, Roberto peeked in. He stared for a second at Rebecca and Ray, then seemed to remember why he was there in the first place. “Uh, Rebecca? Mr. McCoy told me to tell you that a package came for you, a really big one. It’s waiting down in the main hall. I’d bring it up, but I don’t know if anything breakable’s in there.”

Rebecca stood up. “Thanks, Roberto. You too, Ray. For what you said just now. I guess I really needed to hear that.” She left the room, and was about halfway down the hall when she glanced back and realised the boys hadn’t moved. “Now get out of my room, already!”

The package was a large cardboard box. Opening it up, Rebecca saw her clothes from home, her CDs, her iPod, her beloved guitar, and a bunch of other random things. An envelope with her name written on it sat on top of everything else. Dragging the box over to the side of the room where it was out of the way, she sat down next to it and – after a fierce battle with the tape that that held it there – ripped the envelope open. Inside were four sheets of paper, each with a different handwriting. The first was Meghan’s:

_Dear Rebecca,_

_Here’s all your stuff from home. I figured you might need it._

_There’s a lot we didn’t discuss on the phone. I’m actually writing this only five minutes after I hung up, but I don’t know when you’ll get it. The first thing is that Chase and I are proud of you. We know life will be difficult with the anti-mutant attitude around the world, but stay strong. You are a child of God, no matter what anyone else may say. Remember that._

_We’re fine here. A few people from the media have come to the house, but we aren’t letting them in, and most of them will probably give up soon. Rochelle keeps asking where you are, but at least now we can give her an answer. If you ever get to come home for a visit, just remember that we’ve told her Julia’s at that school, too. It’s just that I don’t know how you can explain the whole situation to a three-year-old._

_I’d like to know about the people you’re staying with. We’re expecting a nice, long e-mail within the next week. You know, who’s the hottest, who’s your closest friend, stuff Chase will just roll his eyes at. I don’t want the long distance to put a stop to our girl talk._

_Lastly, I’ll be including letters from Lynzi, Matty, and Chris. Our phone has been ringing off the hook since people have seen you on the news. They’re worried about you. Try and get in contact with them as soon as possible._

_Chase and Rochelle send you their love and support. We’re already missing you to pieces, so please come home for the holidays if you can._

_With love,_

_Meghan._

A drop of water fell with a _splat_ onto the paper, and Rebecca realised it was a teardrop. Damn, she’d been crying a lot in the past five or ten minutes. Hell, she’d been crying a lot in the past _two days_. She flicked away a few more tears with her finger and moved on to the letter from Chris.

_Rebecca,_

_I honestly don’t know what to think of this. I mean, mutants are supposed to be really dangerous, but I’ve known you since preschool, so if you’re one, then they can’t all be that bad. Next time you come to Halifax, try and bring a few others. I want to meet some for myself before I make up my mind._

_Sincerely,_

_Chris_

That was Chris, alright. Brief and to the point. The next was from Matty.

_Dear Rebecca._

_I’m writing this under lock and key. Mom and Dad recognised you on the news broadcast before I got home – yeah, I know I usually get home at 3:30, but I detoured at the Freak Lunchbox to refill my sugar supply – and they just pounced on me. They’re convinced that you’ve always had powers and I’ve always known, so of course they’re pissed. Right now, I’m locked in my room._

_Anyway, we’re all missing you. What are the Graveyard Roses going to do without our lead singer? I’m not sure what Chris and Lynzi think, since I haven’t been able to talk to them. Lynzi had to send her brother Danny – or maybe it was Damon? I don’t know, which one’s the one with the glasses who likes gardening? Either way, the kid had to slip a note from Lynzi through my window, so now I’m writing this. He’s still waiting outside right now. I can tell he’s not happy about standing on the garbage cans outside again so I can give this to him, and frankly, neither am I. He might fall and get me caught. I’d be SO dead if that happened._

_Now he’s moaning about some potato documentary he’s missing, so I’d better finish up. Who watches documentaries on potato plants? No, wait: who makes them?_

_Totally confused and disturbed (as always),_

_Matty_

Rebecca had to laugh. Matty was always good at making people smile.

The last letter had to be from Lynzi. It was written in neon-green gel ink on her special fluorescent purple stationary.

_Hey, Bekki-babe!_

Rebecca rolled her eyes at the use of that much-hated nickname.

_So you’re a mutant? COOL! I just wish I had powers, too. That mutant school sounds like SOOOOO much fun, even if it is an ‘Institute’. Aren’t ‘institutes’ supposed to be stuffy places? E-mail me pics and vids and nice, long descriptions of everyone there. Start with the hot, single guys. Do it, or I’ll personally come down there to check them out for myself. You know I would._

_I guess you’ll be hearing from Chris and Matty, too. Matty’s super-grounded just for knowing you – I always knew his parents were tightasses, but that’s just crazy – so I sent Damien over with the note from Meghan. Hopefully they’ll both pull through, but I’ve lost half my allowance just to pay Damien._

_The only thing I’m mad about is that we’ve got a gig coming up in two weeks, and we have no singer! Eryn keeps begging me to let her take your place. Remind me to kick your ass whenever we see each other again._

_Your crazy BFFL,_

_Lynzi_

“Rebecca?” She looked up. Austin was standing awkwardly at the foot of the stairs. “Can we talk?”

Rebecca bit her lip. She was _not_ happy with him. Ever since they’d arrived yesterday, he’d been somewhat cold to everyone there. The Professor, Kitty, Ray, everyone. She knew it was hard for him, given what had happened to his cousin, but he could at least _pretend_ like he was trying to be nice?! “What about?” she asked, keeping her voice cold to show that he was still mad at him.

“You know what.”

“Oh, yeah. You think I’m turning into some mindless monster, and the people who _saved our lives_ and gave us a place to stay are out to take over the world and enslave the human race! You know, that’s already gotten old. Why can’t you just accept me for who I am?”

Austin came down and sat next to her. She turned away. He sighed. “Look, I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I’m just trying to look out for you, that’s all.”

“Well, I _am_ capable of looking after myself, you know. Especially now that I’m a mutant.”

“Don’t say it like that. You’re not one of _them_ yet.”

“And here we go again! Listen, I trust these people! You need to just relax!” She was facing him now, glaring daggers. “Ever since we got here, you haven’t given them any respect, and it’s pissing me off!”

Austin tried to put his arm around her, but she shrugged it off. “Look, I said I was sorry! I’ll try, alright? It’s just hard, after what happened to Bill!”

“I know that! But you’ve got to remember, they’re not _all_ like that Juggernaut guy! Ray and Forge gave me the story on him; he’s the reason the Professor’s stuck in that damn wheelchair! He’s hurt them, too, Austin, and it’s about time you realise it!”

“And how do you know that they’re telling you the truth?”

“Argh!” Rebecca got up and stuffed the letters – which were now crinkled after she’d been clenching her fists – back into the box, and stormed towards the stairs, dragging it behind her as she went. “You never give up, do you?!”

Austin ran over and grabbed her arm. “I just don’t want you to get hurt, alright? Everything I’m doing is to help you. I don’t want to lose you.”

Rebecca sighed. She turned to face him again. “Okay. I’ll ‘stay on my guard’ and all that, so long as you try to act a little nicer to our _hosts_. Deal?”

“Deal.” He leaned in for a kiss, which lasted somewhere between ten and twenty seconds.

“Good. Now, be a gentleman and help me get this up to my room.”

* * *

Ray watched darkly as Rebecca passionately made out with that asshole that called himself her boyfriend. His knuckles whitened, his jaw clenched, and he felt a surge of anger. Rebecca had been with them for only one day, but he felt extremely protective of her. He hated seeing her with that guy who was so completely wrong for her and obviously didn’t care about hurting her. Ray could tell Jones’s apology was anything but sincere.

A sudden tapping on his shoulder reminded him of Roberto’s presence. “What?”

“You okay, man? You look ready to break the Danger Room all over again.”

“It’s nothing.”

Roberto glanced over at Rebecca and Austin as they _finally_ broke apart. “It’s got something to do with those two, huh?” Ray growled and shoved past his best friend, stalking towards his room. The Brazilian refused to take the hint and followed. “You really can’t stand that guy, can you?”

“Hell no. He’s a total asshole! Got no respect for anyone. I don’t know _what_ Rebecca sees in him! He hurt her really badly today, and I don’t think that was the first time. I know it’s not exactly any of my business, but she’s better off with someone else, in my opinion.”

“You like her.”

“What?!”

A grin was slowly spreading on Roberto’s face. “You heard me. You’re totally into Rebecca.”

“No, I’m not!” A little voice in the back of his head screamed otherwise, but he ignored it. Was Roberto joking? Him and Rebecca? Yeah, right! He only saw her as a friend.

“Quit kidding yourself, man! I saw your face when she grabbed your arm in the car. And don’t forget that little moment I just walked in on. So just admit it, already, dammit.”

“There’s nothing _to_ admit! Just drop it!” He could feel immense amounts of static crackling in his fingertips, and had to focus hard to quell it down.

“Whatever, man. I guess I’ll just have to wait for you to come around on your own.” Roberto clapped Ray on the shoulder before continuing on to his room further down the hall.

Ray glared at his friend’s retreating back, then turned and went into his own room. Alex wasn’t in there at the moment, so he had the space all to himself for now. He zapped the stereo they shared, which immediately came to life and started blaring some lame Beach Boys song. Ray swore and turned it off, swapping Alex’s CD for one of his own. Green Day’s ‘Burnout’ filled the room, and he flopped onto his bed, dumping the other disk on his roommate’s pillow as he passed by it.

That conversation had given him a lot to think about. It was so confusing. Part of him was already beginning to cave in to Roberto’s accusations. He _had_ like holding her so close and being able to make her pain go away. He hated seeing her upset. In fact, it’d been her shouting that had drawn him towards the front hall. He hadn’t been about to let Jones hurt her again. So maybe he _did_ like Rebecca. Just a bit.

Oh, who was he kidding? Once Roberto had brought it up, the idea seemed less and less ridiculous the more and more he thought about it. The image of the two of them together, just him and Rebecca, formed in his mind. Ray had to admit, he did like that better than her current relationship, if you could call it that.

A _lot_ better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so next chapter: the action returns, and Ray risks his life to protect Rebecca.
> 
> Also, I actually don't mind the Beach Boys, but let's face it, Ray wouldn't. Although I do prefer Three Days Grace. The song 'Bitter Taste' is the first track on their newest album 'Life Starts Now'.
> 
> EDIT 11/25/2016: Song has been changed to 'Burnout' from the Green Day album 'Dookie', due to the fact that 'Life Starts Now' wasn't released until 2009.


	6. Problems Continue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A review from the last chapter asked who Laura was, so just a reminder, Laura Kinney is X-23's name in the comics, and she goes by the codename Talon now. Also, Jean's codename in this fic is Phoenix, even though Dark Phoenix makes no appearance whatsoever.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own XME, I'm not Marvel. I only own Rebecca, Austin, and Julia.

_Wednesday, January 30 th, 2002_

“Look out!”

Rebecca, now also going by the codename Pulse, saw the laser cannon pointed her way and acted on instinct. She brought her right hand up and formed a force field to protect herself from the blast. She then sent out a shockwave that disabled the cannon by blowing it up.

It’d been a little under a week since her arrival at the Institute. Rebecca had gotten to know the other kids pretty well, and was often found hanging out with Amanda or Ray. Austin, of course, barely ever left her side. It was starting to get _really_ annoying, but she tolerated it.

Cannonball rocketed past, trying to outmanoeuvre a pair of robotic tentacles intent on grabbing him. Looking into the control room, Pulse saw Nightcrawler fiddling with a remote control, laughing. Spyke snatched it out of his hand and tried it for himself, and soon the two were fighting over it. Wolverine marched over and pulled it away. Pulse expected him to stop the tentacles, and he did – but only after Cannonball glanced backwards, causing him to not look where he was going and crash into the Danger Room wall. Multiple nearly fell over laughing, and paid for his momentary lack of attention by getting picked up by said tentacles.

Pulse joined Sunspot up in the air, preferring to just watch her teammates scramble. It was her first real Danger Room session, after a few private lessons with Jean. Magma and Havoc were blasting anything that attacked them, Talon was easily mowing down everything in her path, Cannonball was still on the floor, Husk (Paige) was trying – and so far, failing – to get Multiple free, and Ray, Jubilation, Tabitha, and Rahne were at school, in detention.

The school’s discipline system was one of the things Rebecca _didn’t_ like about her new life. The teachers and students just loved pinning everything on the mutants, so it wasn’t uncommon for three or four of them to be stuck in detention every day. Rebecca herself had gotten two already, one on Monday and one yesterday (her second and third days at Bayville High) and it royally _sucked_. Even at her most rebellious, she’d never gotten detention two days in a row.

A laser just barely grazed by, not hot enough to seriously hurt her if it’d hit, but enough to singe her bangs. Pulse yelped and shockwaved the offending cannon to bits and pieces. “Get your head out of the clouds, Pulse!” Wolverine shouted through the intercom, “You’re lucky it only got your hair!”

Pulse gingerly fingered the burnt locks. “Yeah, _real_ lucky,” she grumbled.

The session ended about five minutes or so later, and all eight of them stumbled out. “That was brutal!” Paige exclaimed, “I’ve never been so bruised up in my entire life!"

“Do we honestly have to do this _every day_?” Rebecca moaned.

“Pretty much,” Amara replied, “But I gotta say, it wasn’t that bad today.”

“WHAT?!” Sam and Jamie cried in unison.

“I think I cracked a rib!” Jamie protested.

“And I crashed into a freaking wall!”

“You two weren’t paying attention to your surroundings,” Laura stated harshly, “That’s obviously what today’s simulation was all about. Try focusing next time.” She strode off ahead, leaving everyone else behind.

“Yep, she’s Logan’s clone through and through,” Roberto whispered.

“I heard that!” Roberto ducked behind the nearest person, Sam.

Amara suddenly rushed over to Rebecca. “What the hell happened to your hair?!” she cried, gasping.

“Stray laser,” Rebecca replied, “I’ll have to chop the whole thing off.” Inwardly, she winced at the idea of cutting off the bangs she’d worked so hard to grow out like that.

“No way! I’ve been here long enough to know how to deal with this stuff without resorting to any drastic measures. It’ll be tough with your hair color, but if I can take care of Jubes’s hair, yours won’t be impossible. Come on.” She grabbed Rebecca’s arm and pulled her down the hall to the girls’ changing room, Paige jogging behind them to keep up.

Laura was already there, and she barely spoke to them as they burst in. Surprisingly, she wasn’t alone; Amanda was there, too. Rebecca grinned at the girl who’d quickly become one of her best friends here in the States. “Hey, guys,” Amanda greeted them, “Rough session?”

“Meh,” Amara replied, “I’ve been through worse. Of course, after Apocalpyse, not much can compare.” She dug into her locker and produced a pair of scissors. Snapping them open and closed, she grabbed Rebecca’s hair and began to carefully snip away, removing only the hairs that were burnt. A few bits of hair landed on Rebecca’s face, and she impatiently blew them away.

“Laser or flamethrower?” Amanda asked, clearly familiar with the effects of the Danger Room.

“Laser.”

“Nasty.”

* * *

Five minutes later, Rebecca was changed and in the elevator heading upstairs with Amanda. “Why can’t they let this thing continue _all_ the way up?” she moaned, “It's such a _pain_ to have to take it only to the ground floor, then _walk_ the rest of the way. I mean, we have an elevator, why not put it to full use?”

Amanda shrugged. “Beats me,” she replied, “Could be worse. There could be no elevator at all.”

“Good point, but it doesn’t make me like it any better.”

The doors opened with a ‘ding’, and they stepped out, heading for the front hall and the staircase that would lead to the dorm rooms. Voices could be heard up ahead, and they soon saw Alex stretched out on the steps, talking to Laura, who stood stiffly in front of him. When Rebecca and Amanda passed by, Laura made an excuse and followed them. “Can I talk to you two for a second?” she asked.

“Uh, sure.” Rebecca was a little startled. Laura wasn’t really one for socialising, so this sudden desire to interact with them was a somewhat of a change.

They reached Rebecca’s room and shut the door behind them. “So what’s up?” Amanda asked, sitting down on the spare bed and making herself at home.

Laura sighed. “How do you know when a male has romantic interest in you?” she blurted.

“Depends on the guy.” Amanda didn’t seem at all fazed that _Laura_ wanted to talk _boys_. “Which one do you have your eyes on?”

The former assassin blushed. Another first. “Alex.”

“I knew it!” Amanda jumped up and down and did a little victory dance. Rebecca, on the other hand, hadn’t seen any of this coming. She sucked at picking up those kinds of hints. It’d taken her forever to figure out that Austin was flirting with her. “Okay, do you catch him just looking at you for no apparent reason?”

“Yes. It’s a little annoying.”

“Does he offer to do anything for you like carry your books or get you something to eat or drink?”

“Yes. I don’t let him touch my stuff, but he’s been saving me spots in the lunch line and he insists on sticking up for me when other kids give me trouble, even though I can take care of myself just fine, and he knows that.”

“And, most importantly, does he do this stuff for everyone else, or just you?”

“Just me, as far as I’m aware.”

“Then I’d say he’s totally into you.” A small smile broke over Laura's face.

Rebecca thought about what Amanda had just said. _‘Catching him looking your way…’_ Rebecca often caught Ray doing just that. _‘Carrying your books…’_ She had a _lot_ of textbooks, and he was usually there to give her a hand, unless Austin chased him off (and insisted on carrying them all for her, which was unusual for him). _‘Getting you something to eat or drink…’_ He usually had extra snacks in his bag just for her. And he didn’t seem to take that much interest in his other friends. Was it possible that… Nah. She and Ray were just friends, nothing more.

* * *

_The darkness closed in on Rebecca from all sides. It pressed down, choking and suffocating her. Her arms were pinned to her sides; even her fingers were held in place. The air around her was burning hot, and the little air she could breathe in was thick and smoky, blistering her throat and she sucked in and out. She tried to scream, but it came out as hacking coughs instead._

_Rebecca was trapped. There was no conceivable way out of her predicament. Her desperation grew as the unseen force bent her body into a sitting position, and flames appeared around._

_Before she knew it, the blank void she’d been floating in became the interior of a car. Rebecca was sitting in the passenger-side backseat, all alone. When she looked out the window, she saw a city street in chaos. People were running back and forth, their faces indistinguishable despite the glare of the flames coming from under the hood._

_“Hey!” Suddenly able to move and speak, she banged on the window, trying to get their attention while simultaneously trying to open the door that was pressed against a streetlight. “HELP! PLEASE, SOMEONE! GET ME OUT OF HERE!”_

_A person broke off from the crowd and walked calmly up to her. She was wearing a long, pink, woollen winter coat with the hood up, obscuring her face, a blue and green plaid knee-length skirt, and dark blue knee socks poking out of tan winter boots. Rebecca froze in shock as she recognised the clothes. “Jules,” she whispered._

_The girl slowly pulled her hood back, revealing herself to indeed be Julia. She was wearing her favourite gray hat and a cold, hateful expression. “How does it feel to be trapped?” she spat, “How does it feel to be ignored? Abandoned?! **Forgotten**?!” She began backing away, her face now contorted in rage, disappearing into the mass of people._

_Rebecca pounded on the window, panic overtaking her. “Jules? JULES?!”_

* * *

She sat bolt upright, screaming.

“Rebecca!” Paige and Laura (whose room was right next to hers) were standing around her bed. Her door was open, and light was spilling in from the hallway. “Rebecca, are you okay?” Paige asked worriedly.

“What’s going on?” Austin and Ray burst in. They reached her at the same time, and she collapsed onto the two of them, sobbing, in a rather awkward (for the two guys) three-way hug.

“Rebecca…” Ray squeezed her shoulder gently. She clung to them for a long time; she didn’t know how long. Rebecca was vaguely aware of everyone else leaving the room, and Austin trying to pull her closer to himself and away from Ray.

 _“How does it feel…”_ Julia’s words continued to echo in her head. _“…to be ignored?”_ It felt terrible. _“Abandoned?!”_ Pain she’d never felt before stabbed her heart. _“ **Forgotten**?!”_

“It hurts,” she choked.

* * *

_Thursday, January 31 st, 2002_

Ray stole another glance at Rebecca where she sat two rows ahead of him, one desk to the left. To anyone else, she looked fine. She had her pen in her hand, lazily doodling in her notebook, like she always did in their English class. She seemed utterly bored, as usual but Ray knew she really had a lot on her mind.

It’d been around three-thirty when her screaming had woken him and everyone else in the mansion. The look of pain on her face had chilled him to the core when she’d thrown herself into his arms. Well, his and Austin’s. He’d never seen her so distressed.

A paper ball thudded against the side of his head and landed on his desk. He looked around to see who’d thrown it, and saw Austin glaring at him, two rows back. He opened the paper up, and read the words scrawled on the crinkled surface: _‘Back off my girl, mutie’._ Ray rolled his eyes and spent the rest of the class quietly tearing it into little tiny pieces.

When the bell rang, Ray waited until everyone had gone by his desk before he got up. He did this all the time. People tended to roughly push him and the other mutants in the hallway; he didn’t need to deal with it in class.

Rebecca, Austin, and Pietro – not skipping for a change – waited for him just outside the door. It was always safer to travel in groups in the hallways. They headed for the prearranged ‘rendezvous point’ where they would meet up with Tabby, Roberto, and Todd to switch up for their next classes. Pietro, Ray noticed, wasn’t cracking any jokes like usual. Come to think of it, he hadn’t been himself for a whole week. Ray had a feeling he knew why: Wanda. He knew he’d be just as upset, maybe even more so, if his little brother Tyler was locked away in some other dimension. God, he hadn’t seen Ty in about four years now.

“Guys!” They turned to see Alex pushing his way through the crowd of students, frantic. “You gotta see this!” He gestured for them to follow him, which they did. They wound up outside the front entrance.

“Okay, what the hell are you-” Ray was cut off when his roommate pointed off in the distance.

A huge plume of smoke was rising into the sky. “It’s coming from the Institute,” Laura stated. With a start, Ray realised that all the other mutant students had gathered as well.

“We’d better go up and see what’s happening,” Kitty announced decidedly, “Kurt, go over to the middle school and pick up Jamie and Paige. Say it’s an emergency. Everyone else, let’s go.”

“Roberto, Sam, Rebecca, you guys fly,” Anna ordered, “Give Ray and meh your keys, we’ll drive.”

“We can help,” Lance volunteered, indicating himself and the rest of the Brotherhood, “I can take one more person in my Jeep, two if Pietro runs. And it would be a good idea for Kurt to pop by the Boarding House to get John.”

Less than a minute later, Pietro had sped off, Kurt had ‘ported out, Anna and Kitty were zooming away on Sam’s bike, Tabby and Amara had climbed on board with the Brotherhood Boys, and Ray was behind the wheel of Roberto’s car, with Laura, Alex, Jubilation, and Rahne squeezed in with him. Roberto and Rebecca were flying overhead, Sam having already rocketed off. Austin was left standing on the curb with Amanda and the rest of the students. A little voice in the back of Ray’s head told him that they’d get in _major_ trouble for ditching school, but he waved that thought aside.

Ray was the last to eventually pull up to the Institute. Anna had shaved off some time by weaving in between the cars on the road, and Lance had taken his Jeep off-road as a shortcut.

The smoke they’d seen was coming from the woods at the edge of the grounds. The whole forest seemed to be ablaze, tongues of flame lashing out at one of the seven figures flying overhead. Wait, seven? Mentally, he counted over all the local mutants who could fly: Rebecca, Roberto, Sam, Jean, Ororo, and Warren. That made six. So who was the extra?

A destructive, neon-green blast answered his question. “It’s Seether!” he cried.

Everyone jumped out of their respective rides and dashed over to where another skirmish was happening on the ground. Colossus, Wolverine, Beast, Gambit, Spyke, Quicksilver, Nichtcrawler, Cyclops, Multiple, and Husk were fighting a person wearing a long, heavy, dark purple robe. As the figure turned around, Berzerker realised with a shock that it was their old enemy, Mesmero. Meanwhile, Pyro was directing flames at Seether, while Pulse, Sunspot, Cannonball, Phoenix, Storm, and Angel battled her in the air

Seether was holding them off very easily. She simply used one hand to keep her shield up, and the other to fire off her green blasts. Berzerker noticed that each hand glowed the colour of their current task: blue for shielding, green for blasting, and occasionally red for the whips. In the previous battle, he remembered that she’d never used more than two of her powers at once, not counting the flying. Iceman had exploited that weakness to get her to switch from holding the Blackbird with her energy whips to defending herself with the shield. If it hadn’t been for that, they all probably would’ve been done for.

“Julia!” he heard Pulse cry, “Jules, please stop this! You’re my twin sister, I won’t fight you!”

“Then this shall be quick!” Without warning, the green aura around Seether’s right hand changed to red, and she swung her energy whip at her sister. Pulse was knocked to the ground violently. She landed with a sickening _thud_ , and lay there, motionless.

“Rebecca!” Berzerker dashed over, forgetting the protocol of using codenames while in battle. Seether had abandoned her shield, having used the whips to knock her opponents back, and was firing a blast with _both_ hands. The deadly green energy barrelled towards Rebecca. It could kill her if it hit.

Without thinking – there was no damn time to think – Ray picked her up and started to carry her to safety. The blast just barely missed the two of them, but it was still close enough to launch them into the air. Ray did his best to shield Rebecca from the imminent impact, and was able to do so just in time. His back collided with something sturdy and hot – it felt like one of the trees in the burning forest – and he landed on the ground, only seeing the rock a split second before his head made contact, and everything vanished in a sharp flash of pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and Review please! The next chapter will hopefully be coming soon.


	7. Heartbreak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the support I've got so far from my reviewers, and this is a chapter many of you will find you've been waiting for. This was definitely one of my favourite chapters to write.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own X-Men: Evolution

_Thursday, January 31 st, 2002_

“Ow…” Rebecca mumbled. Her head was pounding like hell. What happened? Slowly, the memories came back to her. The smoke off in the distance. Julia. Being smashed into the ground. A flash of green light. A pair of arms lifting her. The sensation of flying. Another impact. Falling for a very short time. A hard landing, accompanied by the sickening sound of something hitting a very solid object.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. The crackling of flames and the smell of smoke surrounded her, with the noises of a battle in the background. The fight was still going on; she had to help! _‘Help who?’_ the little voice in the back of her head asked. She didn’t want to hurt her sister, but she couldn’t stand by and let her new friends down.

A scream drew her attention to Storm. She was surrounded by a cloud of crackling black energy, and being quickly swallowed up by it. “Auntie O!” Rebecca heard Evan cry. When the cloud dissipated, Storm vanished along with it. Rebecca gasped as it hit her: they’d just lost another X-Man to the Spirit Realm.

She started to get up, but stopped when she became aware of a weight draped over her body. Twisting around, she saw that it was Ray’s limp left arm. He was lying beside her, motionless, his forehead bleeding against a sharp rock. “Ray!” Rebecca shook him, but he didn’t respond. “I’ve gotta get him outta here,” she said to herself. She slung one of his arms over her shoulders and started dragging him away.

“PULSE! BEHIND YOU!” Rebecca turned and saw a green blast heading their way, and blocked it just in time. Cyclops and Havoc rushed over, sending their own blasts at Julia. “Are you two alright?” Cyclops asked.

“I’m fine,” Rebecca replied shakily, “But Ray- Berzerker’s out cold. I think he hit his head on that rock over there.”

“Get him out of here. I’ll get Forge to meet you in the front hall.” Pulse nodded, shifting Berzerker’s dead weight – no, don’t say ‘dead’ – in her arms before flying towards the mansion, keeping her force-field up for 360-degree protection. A few energy blasts hit, but they couldn't penetrate her bubble, and the Summers brothers were giving her cover fire, anyway. She made it inside unharmed, just as Forge joined her in the front hall. Wordlessly, she handed Ray off to him before heading back outside and into battle.

The situation in the sky hadn’t improved at all. Angel was missing, leaving only Phoenix, Sunspot, and Cannonball fighting Julia. On the ground, however, the other bad guy – someone had called him Mesmero – was vastly outnumbered and outmatched. A tremor from Avalanche knocked him off his feet, and Rogue managed to brush his face with her bare hand. Both stumbled and fell to the ground, the latter clutching her head.

Pulse heard Julia scream behind her, and turned to see her sister falling out of the sky, towards the burning forest. Cannonball was able to catch her before the flames could. Pulse flew over to where the pair landed. “Jules?!” she cried, “Sam, is she okay?”

Julia was clutching her head and weeping hysterically. “Becky…” she moaned.

Rebecca put her hands on her sister’s shoulders to get her attention. “Jules, I’m here!”

Julia looked up at her, and for the first time in over a week, Rebecca truly saw her twin sister in their shared green eyes. “Becky? I’m so sorry, Becky! It’s not me, its-” She screeched again, tearing herself away.

“Jules!” Rebecca touched her twins shoulder to pull her back. It came as a complete shock when a red energy whip shot out and wrapped around her neck.

“Hey!” Roberto – who’d since landed beside them – and Sam tried to force her off, but they only succeeded in increasing the grip around Rebecca’s throat. She was losing air by the second.

Suddenly, Rebecca got a weird feeling in her hands. Glancing down at them, she saw that her shields had appeared, but they were different. Instead of circular force-fields, they were formed to fit around her hands like a pair of gloves, and they continued to creep up her arms, spreading out and under the energy whips until they covered her as one feather-light body shield. It expanded out from her slightly, so that the energy whip was squeezing on that, instead of Rebecca’s neck.

Julia looked furious. She’d reverted back to the cold, hateful girl they’d been fighting just a minute ago. She unleashed an energy blast, not towards Rebecca, but at Cannonball and Sunspot. The boys were knocked off their feet and hurled towards the other fight, crashing into Blob.

“Seether!” Mesmero called. He was stuck under Wolverine, Beast, Pyro, Gambit, and Colossus. “It’s time to leave!”

Julia didn’t even spare Rebecca one glance as she waved her hand – which was now glowing black – and covered the whole dogpile in the dark energy. Then she vanished in her own ‘cloud’ of it.

Rebecca ran over to everyone else. “What the hell just happened?!” she cried.

Anna was on her knees, still holding her head. Roberto, Sam, and Fred were all tangled up in the snow – if it weren’t for the circumstances, Rebecca would’ve laughed at the sight. Pietro was pounding on the ground in hyper-speed frustration. Everyone else was scattered, looking about as shocked as she felt.

* * *

“So, what happened, exactly?” Amanda asked.

Scott sighed heavily. “Logan and I were outside with the Professor when those two showed up. Xavier was the first one Seether got; he was gone before we even realised what was going on. So Jean and Ororo took her on in the sky while the rest of us went after Mesmero. He tried messing with our heads, but the mental barriers the Professor put in our minds pretty much stopped him, so Seether started blasting at everything and everyone in sight. Then Pietro soon showed up, and Sam was only a few seconds behind him. A few minutes later, and Kurt brought Paige, Jamie, and Pyro, and then everyone else arrived.”

They were all gathered in the spacious living room. Austin and Amanda had been picked up from school, so they were included as well. The only ones absent – besides those lost to the Spirit Realm – were Forge, Jean, Anna, Lance, and Ray. Forge was analysing the security footage to see if he could spot anything in the fight that might help, and the other four were down in the infirmary; Ray hadn’t woken up yet, so Jean was looking after him while the other two were getting painkillers for the headaches caused by their powers. Rebecca wanted to go down and see Ray, but Jean insisted they all stayed upstairs until she said so. And besides, Austin had her waist in a sort of vice grip, keeping her more or less stuck in her seat.

“So now practically all the instructors are stuck in the Spirit World!” Kitty realised, “Plus Bobby, Wanda, and John!” Looking back, Rebecca realised that Kitty was right. In fact, the only adults left were Scott, Jean, and Forge.

Just then, Forge walked in. “Did you get anything?” Scott asked him.

Forge shrugged. “Well, it was kinda hard, since I didn’t know exactly what to look for, but I did seen a pattern in the way Seether uses her powers. Every time she uses one of her powers, except for flying, her hands glows a certain color. You know, green for the blasts, or red for the whips. But she never uses more than two at the same time, like each hand can only use one power at a time, and obviously she’s only got two hands. It’s not much, but just knowing that might give us an advantage the next time any one of us has to go up against her.”

“I think that actually saved our lives last week,” Jubilation added sadly, “The only reason she let go of the Blackbird was because Bobby was chucking ice at her, and her other hand was busy keeping the portal open.”

“Makes sense,” Alex commented.

At that point, Jean walked in, with Lance and Anna right behind her. “How’s Ray?” Rebecca demanded.

“I ran a few scans,” Jean reported, “He’s got a cracked rib and he’s lucky he didn’t get a concussion, but he’ll be fine otherwise, I think.”

“How’d he crack a rib?” Evan asked.

Jean shrugged. “I think I know,” Forge answered, “When I watched the fight on the security tapes, there was a moment where he and Rebecca were slammed into a tree, and Ray was kind of sandwiched in the middle. At their velocity, the impact could easily break bones.”

Rebecca felt a painful twinge of guilt. Ray had been injured protecting her. It was her fault.

“Has he woken up yet?” Roberto asked.

Jean nodded. “Yeah, but he’s pretty banged up. It’d be better if he didn’t get a lot of visitors right away.”

Rebecca stood up anyway, pulling herself out of Austin’s grip. “I want to see him,” she insisted.

“Rebecca, I’m not sure it-”

“Please. He got hurt protecting me. I need to talk to him, just for a couple minutes.”

Jean sighed. “Okay. But try not to talk too loud; he’s got a killer headache.”

“Well, smacking your head on a rock can do that to you,” Austin bluntly commented, “Dumbass mutie should’ve watched where he was going.”

“Austin!” Rebecca gasped. His hostility towards her fellow mutants _still_ hadn’t died, he’d just toned it down in expressing it, and not by much. Roberto stood up, and it took the combined efforts of Sam, Kurt, and Alex to pull him down in a quiet struggle.

“What?” Austin glared at her.

Rebecca huffed. “You can be so _unbelievable_ sometimes. Could you just try to be nice to my friends for _once_? Even before all this, you never gave Lynzi, Chris, or Matty any respect!”

“What does that have to do with anything now?!”

“Everything!”

“Uh, we’ll just go…” Kitty mumbled, giving the rest of the room a significant look. One by one, the other X-Men and the Brotherhood got up and left. Several threw death glares at Austin’s back, and surprisingly, Rebecca didn’t mind. She herself was giving him one. Soon, the two of them were all alone.

“What’s your problem?” Rebecca snapped, “Ever since we got here, you’ve been rude, bossy, possessive, and cold towards me! You don’t respect me, you don’t respect any of my friends, you never leave me alone, and you act like I can’t think for myself! Why?”

“You’re seriously asking that question?!” Austin seemed like he was stuck between rage and disbelief. “Please! I’m only doing it for your own good! These mutants have been poisoning your mind, and I’ve been doing everything I can to stop them, but _you_ have got to work with me here!”

“You’re never going to give that up, are you?! You’ve been saying the same crap for a week, and I’m just sick of it!”

“Why don’t you get it?! You keep treating these freaks like they’re human! They’re not! MUTANTS AREN’T PEOPLE!”

 _SMACK!_ Rebecca slapped Austin as hard as she could across the face.

“Get out!” she shouted, “Go home, Jones! You’re not welcome here anymore! We’re THROUGH!”

Austin turned and stormed out of the room, pausing at the door for a few seconds only to look back at her. “You’re a freak, Reid,” he spat venomously, “You’re just like them.”

Rebecca shrieked, not unlike a wild animal, and threw a shockwave at him, only barely missing as he ducked away. She tried to calm herself down, but it didn’t work. She really, _really_ needed to talk to someone before she exploded.

She streaked out of the room, not bothering to answer when the others called to her, to the elevator. Impatiently, she jabbed at the button until the doors opened, then waited just as impatiently for it to sluggishly bring her down to the lower levels. Down the hall, around the corner, through the door, and she was in the infirmary.

Rebecca stopped when she saw him lying on one of the beds, his shirt off and bandages on his head and chest. He looked up in surprise when she came in. “Hey,” he greeted her, grinning weakly. The smile vanished in a second. “What’s wrong?”

And then the tears came. She’d been trying to keep them back, but that one question broke her. They spilled from her eyes like waterfalls and tumbled down her face, and she began sobbing violently.

With her vision blurred badly by her tears, it took Rebecca a couple moments to register that Ray was sitting up. “D-Don’t,” she told him, “You’re h-hurt.”

“Well, it looks like you’re worse off than I am right now.”

He held out his arms to her. Sniffling, Rebecca drifted over and sank into his embrace, shaking harder than ever. Ray held her tightly as he ran his hand up and down her back. She felt herself finally relaxing, just from being in his presence.

They stayed like that for who knew how long. Rebecca didn’t want him to let her go. She didn’t know why, but she felt safer around him. He understood her in a way that none of her other friends ever had. It was strange, the connection that had developed between them in a little over a week. It’d been… nine days now? And already she felt like she could trust him with her life. Today’s events definitely proved that.

Eventually, Ray broke the silence. “So, what happened?” he asked softly, “Did something happen with Julia in the fight?”

Ah, yes. That had temporarily left her mind due to her argument with Austin, but now it hit again with full force. How could she have forgotten about Julia, even for a moment? She felt terrible about it. Rebecca fought back the urge to break down crying again, letting only one sob escape.

“Shh… shh, easy. If it’s too hard to talk about it now, then you don’t have to.”

“No- no, I have to tell you. If I don’t tell someone, I’ll just explode or something.” She shifted so that she was sitting next to Ray instead of putting all her weight on him, and put her arms around his neck, not wanting to exert any pressure on his ribs. “Every time I start really enjoying my life here, any time I’m happy for a while, I suddenly feel really guilty about it, knowing that while I’m fine, my own twin is miserable and I can go _so long_ without remembering that! She was herself for a few seconds today, Ray, and she was terrified! And I just _forgot_ about her, my own sister! How could I _do_ that to her, even for a few minutes?!” The little bit of calm she’d achieved by coming here was gone. She couldn’t get another word out.

Ray pulled her into a tighter embrace, again beginning to rub her back soothingly while she sobbed into his shoulder. “Hey, it's all right,” he murmured, “Look, I don’t have a twin or anything, but I do know what it’s like to have a loved one who’s worse off and feel guilty about it.” He paused. “I’ve only told the professor and Logan, but I have a little brother living with our father and older brother back in New Jersey. They’re… not exactly the best family to live with. Dad just sits and drinks until he passes out, ever since Mom died, and so he’s pretty much out of it all the time. Duane’s usually high and looking for someone to vent on, usually Tyler. Used to be me, then my powers kicked in, and he kicked me out. I doubt Dad even knows what’s going on in his own house, so he obviously can’t do anything about it. I don’t know whether or not Ty’s alive, dead, in the emergency room, or what. An when I’ve got time to think, everything always comes back to me wondering if I did the right thing, leaving him in that hellhole while I struck out on my own and wound up living a better life here.

Rebecca had stopped crying by then, listening to Ray’s story. He had a dark, sad look in his eyes, no doubt reliving the painful memories in his mind. “Oh, Ray…” she whispered, giving his shoulder a quick squeeze. Ray winced; clearly his broken rib was bothering him. “Sorry,” she apologised quickly, moving away, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He pulled her back closer to him, smiling faintly. “Anyway, my point is that even though I feel horrible about it sometimes, always being miserable wouldn’t make any difference. Julia wouldn’t want you to be moping around all the time, right?”

Rebecca smiled a little. “Right.”

“So what else happened?” he asked, “Who else did we lose? Jean and the others wouldn’t tell me anything.”

The smile faded. “The Professor was the first one they got.” She couldn’t bring herself to explain that it was her sister sucking people into the Spirit Realm; she knew Ray was already aware of that anyway. “Then Ms. Munro, Warren, Mr. Logan, Mr. McCoy, Remy, and Piotr.”

“All the adults except for Scott, Jean, and Forge,” Ray summarised, “Smart strategy. Take out most of the leader figures, leaving us kids to fend for ourselves.”

“I know. We came to that conclusion five minutes ago.”

“You came in here seven minutes ago,” Ray noted, glancing pointedly at the wall clock.

“Okay, nine or ten minutes ago. Everyone was there: even the Brotherhood, Amanda, Austin…” she trailed off.

“What’d he do this time?”

“Huh?”

“I can tell from the way you said his name. You two have another fight?” He grew super serious. “What’d he say? If he hurt you, I’ll punch his lights out, broken rib or not.”

“It’s fine,” Rebecca told him hastily as he tried to get up, “I’m done with him. We broke up, and he’ll be on a plane back home as soon as possible.”

“Really? Great! I was getting sick of… Oh, sorry.”

“Like I just said, it’s fine. I know you two hate each other, and to be honest, I don’t know how _I_ couldn’t hate him, either. Once he found out I was a mutant, everything changed between us. It beats me why he didn’t just dump me and spare us all this drama.”

Ray shrugged. “Who knows how that guy thinks? All I need to know is that he’s an asshole, and that you deserve _way_ better than him.”

Rebecca blushed. She’d heard Amanda and Tabby and pretty much everyone in the mansion saying that, but it sounded different in Ray’s protective tone. For once, she found herself believing it. “Uh… thanks.” He smiled down at her, and she grinned back, even though she was still crying a little on the inside.

Just then, the door slid open, and Jean came in. “Ray!” she scolded, “You’re supposed to be resting!”

“I’m fine,” Ray protested, “I’m not made of glass, you know. Ow!” He’d tried to stand up, but gasped in pain and sat back down.

Rebecca took his hand. “Maybe you _should_ lie down,” she suggested. Ray rolled his eyes, but gingerly settled himself back down. Jean then gently laid a hand on Rebecca’s shoulder.

“Rebecca, I’m sorry, but he needs to sleep. You’ll have to go back upstairs. Everybody’s worried about you.”

Rebecca sighed and turned to leave, but not before giving Ray a peck on the cheek and whispering “Thank you” in his ear. His face went three shades of red, causing hers to heat up as well. Then, slowly, she let Jean lead her out.

“You okay?” the older girl asked as the two of them headed down the hallway towards the elevator.

“Uh-huh. I think so.”

“You know, you’re not the only girl here who’s lost a boyfriend because of her powers. I was dating this guy, Duncan Matthews, before mutants became known to the public. Once we were exposed, he wanted to use my ‘problem’ to cheat on tests for him, so I dumped him right there on the spot, in front of the entire school.”

Rebecca chuckled. “Yeah, I think Kitty told me that story once, then said I should do the same. Guess I took her advice after all, huh?”

“I guess so. What about the second part?”

“Second part?” They came to the elevator and got in.

“I wound up hooking up with my closest guy friend, and I’ve been with him ever since.” She threw a sidelong glance at Rebecca. “You and Ray seem to be pretty close.”

Rebecca just blushed furiously and looked away. “Don’t even go there. We’re just friends, nothing more.”

Jean grinned. “Okay, but you might want to tell everyone else that. Alex has got a betting pool started on you two, and almost the entire Institute has a piece in.”

“Even you?”

The elevator door opened, and Jean’s response was drowned out by half a dozen voices.

“Rebecca, are you okay?”

“How’s Ray doing?”

“What’d Jones say to you?”

“Can I kick his ass for you?”

“No way! I call dibs on the ass-kicking!”

“Oh, would you all just SHUT UP?!” Rebecca shouted. Amanda, Roberto, Kitty, Evan, and Tabby all fell silent. Good thing Lynzi had taught her that trick; it was the only way to quiet groups like the Park kids or this bunch. “I’m fine, he’s fine, like you don’t know because I _know_ some of you were listening in, and no ass-kicking just yet, okay?” She said that all in one breath.

“O-kay… so… why not?” Tabby asked. “If anyone ever talked to _me_ like that, I would’ve cleaned his clock, or at least stuck a cherry bomb down the front of his boxers.”

“I don’t doubt that, but he’s been going around forever insisting that we’re monsters. If you just attack him for no reason – and I know you’ve got a good reason, but I’m sure he wouldn’t tell it like that – it’ll just prove him right, in his mind. I won’t give him that satisfaction.”

Tabby and Evan huffed. “Fine,” they grumbled.

Rebecca was glad that Ray was in the infirmary right now. Well, not about the fact that he was injured, but at least he couldn't get at Austin. It was strangely comforting, though, knowing that he would fight for her like that.

* * *

Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Evan, Forge, and Lance all stood in the tactics room, trying to figure out what move to make next. All the other students were still trying to come to terms with what had happened, but the ‘Original Six’, the Brotherhood leader, and the only other adult left had quickly pulled themselves together and decided to come up with a plan of action.

“Okay,” Anna thought out loud, “We need to find a way to stop Apocalypse from returnin’, obviously, get our friends back, deal with Jones, handle things around the mansion until Logan an’ the Professor and everyone else returns, and any other crap Ah haven’t thought of yet.”

“There’s the media,” Forge added, “That battle didn’t go unnoticed. I’m surprised this place isn’t swarming with reporters already.”

“They’re probably gathering theories from the locals instead,” Kitty stated glumly, “That way, they can spin their own stories about how wild and dangerous we are instead of getting the truth. Not that the truth’s much better. I mean, what happened with Apocalypse is pretty much common knowledge now. Nobody wants to hear about his servants running around and attacking other mutants.”

“Nobody vould vant to be around mutants at all if zey found out,” Kurt commented, “Zey’d be too scared zat zey might get caught in ze crossfire.”

Scott rubbed his temples. “Okay, okay, so we’ve got a lot of problems to deal with right now. Let’s try and focus on the most immediate ones. Now, I doubt Jones wants to stay another night here, and let’s face it: the feeling’s mutual all around. So we should get him on the next flight home, as soon as possible.”

“I’ll book the tickets,” Forge immediately volunteered.

“Alright, that’s taken care of. Now, there’s bound to be at least _one_ reporter who’ll eventually come up here, so we have to figure out exactly what to tell them. Kitty, I want you to handle that. Say it was just a few lone mutants and we’ve taken care of the situation. We don’t want a panic about Apocalypse possibly coming back. Oh, and Alvers, try and keep your boys from interfering. We all know Tolansky will be dying to get on camera, and we can’t have him messing this up.”

Lance glared back at Scott. Even with the X-Men and the Brotherhood at a general peace now, those two still didn’t get along. Some things just never change.

“Anyway,” Kitty interrupted, not wanting her boyfriend and her team leader to get into yet _another_ fight, “There’s another thing we’ve gotta consider. Roberto told me that Seether sorta came back to her senses during the fight, but it was only for a few seconds.”

“She fought off Mesmero’s control for a while?” Jean asked, clearly surprised, “Do you think she might have some telepathic abilities of her own?”

“Nah,” Anna disagreed, “Ah saw it go down, and it was rahght after Ah drained ol’ tattoo-face. It was Mesmero’s power – or lack of it – that freed her for a bit. But Ah just barely brushed his face, so it was only temporary.”

“So if we wanna save Julia,” Lance concluded, “We’ve gotta take out Mesmero and keep them apart.”

“How do we know that Seether and Julia aren’t the same person?” Evan questioned, “What if there’s no saving her? It could’ve all been just an act.”

“He’s got a point,” Scott added, “She attacked Rebecca right after that. It might’ve been a trick to get her guard down.”

“No,” Anna disagreed again, “The little bit of his thoughts Ah was able to absorb are pretty murky, but he was definitely focusin’ on keeping the true Julia locked up. Seether _is_ a different personality altogether. The question is how to get rid of her.”

“Well, I don’t think we should talk about it anymore without Rebecca’s input,” Kitty announced, “They’re twin sisters; she obviously knows more about Julia than anyone here, probably more than the entire world. She should have a say in whatever decision we make on this.” She glanced over at Jean, who’d since drifted out of the conversation and looked deep in thought. “What do you think, Jean? Jean?”

The redhead started when she realised she was being addressed. “Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking, Rebecca told me about the nightmare she had the night after her sister went missing. It was about the car crash that killed their parents, but it was all from Julia’s perspective.”

“It’s not all that surprising,” Scott commented, “Like Kitty said, they’re identical twins.”

Jean continued on as if he hadn’t even spoken. “Then there was the one she had last night. I was half-asleep, but I’m positive I felt another presence in the mansion then, more specifically, in Rebecca’s room. I think someone’s been sending her those dreams, like some sort of message.”

“Mesmero?”

“No, it wasn’t him. Besides, the presence wasn’t physical, it was purely mental. But I don’t know of any telepath strong enough to send those dreams over such a long distance. Cerebro didn’t pick up anyone nearby last night; there was nobody on the grounds, and all the mutants in town were either here or at the Boarding House.”

“Well, what about Julia?” Evan suggested, “There’s a lot of theories that twins have a sort of psychic link, or something like that. Imagine combining that with both twins having mutant powers. And the first nightmare _was_ from her point of view.”

Jean nodded. “That’s pretty likely, but it might be a good idea to test that theory first. If there _is_ a connection, and Seether is sending messages to Rebecca, maybe I can get it to work in reverse.”

“That’s pretty risky, Jean,” Scott cautioned her, “Who knows what could happen to her mind?”

Jean sighed. “I know,” she admitted, “But maybe we should consider it, or at least let Rebecca decide for herself. It could be our only hope.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, anyone who's curious about Ray's story, it'll be covered in more detail in the sequel, but until then, you can find some flashbacks in my other XME fic, 'Family, Meet My Mutant Friends'.
> 
> Until then, please Read and Review and tell me what you think.


	8. The Final Battle Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm Alive!
> 
> I'm SO SORRY for taking so long, but I've been busy getting ready for the switch from high school to university. Because of this, I don't know when I'll be resuming posting after next chapter (whihc will be the last of this fic).
> 
> Anyway... Here's the newest chapter of Seether, and I hope you all enjoy it.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: Marvel owns XME and its characters. Someone else owns the Halifax Metro Centre, the Halifax Mooseheads, and the Cape Breton Eagles. I only own Austin, Rebecca, Julia, Lynzi, Matty, Chris, and Meghan.

_Thursday, January 31 st, 2002_

Austin shifted his backpack onto his shoulder, glancing back at the Institute for Freaks, as he’d come to call it. Reid was standing on her balcony, watching as he headed down the long driveway to the waiting cab that would get him out of here. She had no expression on her face, and Austin looked away. She’d gotten out of his control; she was no longer the girl who made his life more enjoyable by doing pretty much everything he asked. Sure, there’d been plenty of time when she’d refused him, and it’d been frustrating, but he’d miss the challenge. Ten months of trying to crack her tight-ass defences, down the drain.

Oh well. She was one of those goddamn muties now, and there were tons of other girls out there who’d do whatever he said just to get some. That was already a step up from Pulse, who insisted on ‘saving herself for marriage’. Austin supposed it was best if he forgot about her. To be honest, what was the point of going out with a girl if he couldn’t get her into bed?

He turned away from the mansion and walked away. He was going back where he belonged, and leaving that girl where she belonged. Well, not really. Mutants like her didn’t belong anywhere.

* * *

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jean asked for what seemed like the hundredth time.

“Again, yes. If it gets me any closer to saving my sister, I’ll do it.” Rebecca clenched her jaw, knowing that her face was set in the expression she wore that showed that she’d made up her mind. She, Jean, and Scott were down in the infirmary, for two reasons. One, what they were about to do was potentially dangerous, so Scott had suggested being as close to medical equipment as possible; he’d already prepped an oxygen mask, ‘just in case’. And two, Rebecca knew this wouldn’t be pleasant, so she wanted Ray by her side. In spite of Jean’s orders, he hadn’t gone to sleep at all, and had been trying to entertain himself by messing with the lights and all the non-essential electronic devices in the room.

“Okay,” Jean finally relented, “I need you to relax your body and your mind. I’m going to enter your subconscious and find a connection. I promise, whatever else I find in there, it’ll stay between you and me.” Rebecca nodded in agreement, sat on the bed next to Ray’s, and closed her eyes, preparing herself. She was extremely nervous about this, having someone enter and search through her mind, but she trusted Jean, and it could be her only hope of getting her Jules back. She’d take that risk.

Jean lightly touched the sides of Rebecca’s head, and a flash of memories came to her. They were completely random, unrelated moments. Playing in front of a live audience for the first time with her band, kissing Austin, laughing at some joke Matty had just cracked, that time she’d fallen from the tree in the backyard when she was four and broken her leg, the English teacher from Grade Eight who smelled like old cheese telling her to put her music away and pay attention, bike racing with Lynzi and Julia, going to the beach with her parents and sister and dropping a crab down Dad’s shorts. They all rushed at her, varying in time, pleasantness, and significance. Some were from before the accident, some from after. Some she recognised as special, monumental moments, others as just a part of everyday life. A couple were far more recent, like studying with Rahne and Amanda, falling out of the Blackbird only to stop in midair, and sitting there on the bed with Ray not even an hour ago.

Then she felt something else. A sort of tugging in the back of her mind. Tentatively, she reached out to it, feeling Jean do the same, and then the tug turned into a powerful jerk.

Rebecca could no longer feel Jean there with her, nor could she see or hear anything around her. It was like she’d been pulled out of her own body and was now hurtling through empty space.

Within a short second, though, the sensation ended. She was standing in darkness, looking around. She started to panic. Where the hell was she?

“Congratulations,” a cold voice spoke from behind her, “You’ve found a way to contact me.”

Rebecca spun around to see Julia there, still in her black and gold Egyptian garb. She had her red energy whips holding something on the floor, and Rebecca gasped when she realised what it was – _who_ it was, that is.

Julia. _Two_ Julia’s were there before her, one the cold and evil Seether, the other a terrified Jules, who was struggling to get free.

“What?” Rebecca gasped, “What’s going on?! Where am I?!”

Seether rolled her eyes. “You’re in my mind, obviously. Well, it used to be _her_ mind, but I’ve made myself quite at home here.”

Rebecca met Julia’s gaze. Her twin stared up at her, tears filling her eyes. “I’m sorry, Becky,” Jules sobbed, “I’ve tried to fight her, I really have, but I can’t!”

“Of course you can’t,” Seether sneered, “How can you fight _yourself_?”

“What are you talking about?!” Rebecca demanded.

“Ever since the car wreck, Jules here has always felt like a second-place loser, always coming after you, the talented superstar. But she shoved all that anger away because alone, it wasn’t nearly as strong as her love for her beloved sister Becky. Mesmero simply took it all and used it to create me, and put me in control. And in return, I’m helping him raise his master Apocalypse back to the world he shall soon rule, with the two of us as his top lieutenants. Even better, since you’re involved with the enemy, I’ve been guaranteed that I get to take you out personally.”

Rebecca didn’t really hear those last two sentences. Her panic had been replaced by fury. “So… so Julia’s been here this whole time?! A prisoner inside her own mind?! How _dare_ you?! I won’t let you get away with it! Let my sister go!” She rushed at Seether, but was met by the blue force fields.

“Sorry, hon,” Seether cooed mockingly, “But _I’m_ in charge here. So I’ll let you stay here with your dear Jules… forever. It’ll be so much more satisfying than simply killing or banishing you to the Spirit Realm.” She reached out with her free hand and shot out another set of energy tendrils, grabbing Rebecca’s arms and neck.

Rebecca struggled, trying to fire off some shockwaves, but nothing happened. Her powers were null and void here. Suddenly, another force started pulling her away. She managed to look back and see Jean, her face tense with concentration. With one good yank, Rebecca was freed before falling backwards, Seether’s furious expression and enraged shriek being the last thing she saw and heard before it all went dark and silent.

* * *

Ray knew something was wrong when Rebecca gasped and tensed up all over. He sat up, ignoring Scott’s protests and the pain in his chest, and grabbed her left hand. She began convulsing, and wouldn’t respond to anything. Not Jean’s attempts to bring her back, nor anything the boys shouted to her. “Rebecca, can you hear me?” Ray begged her, “Rebecca, please, talk to me!”

After a couple minutes, she stopped twisting around and fell back onto the bed. Jean collapsed as well, right into Scott’s arms.

“Rebecca!” Ray cried, “Jean, what happened?”

Jean groaned and rubbed her temples. “I found something, alright,” she replied slowly, “There’s definitely a connection to Julia’s mind. Rebecca was sucked in as soon as we found it. I was just barely able to pull her back, but her mind is exhausted. I think she’ll be fine, but I’m not sure how long it’ll be before she wakes up.”

Ray never looked away from Rebecca during this. She was so pale, lying there. He still had her hand in his grip, and he wasn’t about to let go anytime soon.

“Jean, when you were in there, did you see anything important?” Scott asked.

“Not much. I was only focused on getting Rebecca out. We’ll have to wait for her to wake up and tell us what she saw herself. Until then, there’s nothing we can do.”

* * *

“ _Oh, Rebecca, can you hear me?”_ The voice was tantalisingly familiar. _“Listen up. Tomorrow evening, there’s a Mooseheads game at the Metro Centre, and I’m crashing it. You are, too, unless you want all those pathetic little humans to die.”_

Rebecca gasped and shot up. “No!” she shouted.

“Hey, easy.” She looked over and saw Ray in the bed next to hers. It took her a second to remember where she was. She was on another bed in the infirmary, but the lights were now out. She could only see thanks to the moonlight coming in from the window. “You really should rest a bit more.”

Rebecca ignored him and got out of bed. “I can’t,” she insisted, “If I don’t get to the Metro Centre, thousands of innocent people will die!”

“Whoa, hang on, what?!”

Rebecca chose not to answer. There was just no time to explain. Wait, time. What time was it? She had no idea how long she had to get back home and stop Seether. Looking at the clock on the wall, she saw that it was eighty-thirty pm. Nine-thirty in Halifax. No wonder it was dark.

She ran out the infirmary door, heading straight for the hanger. There was nobody else there, or so it seemed. As she raced up the ramp to the Velocity – the only one she had the slightest idea how to fly – someone grabbed her arm and she screamed.

“Hey, relax, it’s just me!” It was Forge, covered in grease stains. Rebecca dimly remembered Jubilation accidentally sparking the Blackbird’s engines that morning; he was probably down there fixing it. “Where are you going off to in such a hurry? And in your socks?”

Rebecca hadn’t noticed before that her sneakers had been taken off. But just as before, there was no time. “Home. Seether is going to kill thousands of people if I don’t show up!” She tried to keep moving, but Forge moved in between her and the top of the ramp.

“Wait, how could you possibly know that?”

“She told me. I have to get there before it’s too late!”

“Go where?” Rebecca and Forge turned to see Scott and Jean entering. “Rebecca, you’re in no condition to go anywhere,” Scott warned her, “You should be in bed.”

Jean, on the other hand, looked a combination of intrigued and concerned. “Does it have to do with what you found in Julia's mind?” she asked.

Rebecca nodded. “Yeah. She’s going to be at the Halifax Metro Centre tomorrow night, and if I don’t show up, she’ll kill the thousands of people there at a hockey game.”

“Well, you’re not going alone,” Scott declared, “We can put together a team to back you up, but nobody’s leaving tonight.”

“But-”

“No buts,” Jean interrupted, “We’re not letting you run headfirst into a dangerous situation. We promised your guardians we’d be responsible for keeping you safe.”

“I know that, but… this is _my_ fight. It’s _my_ sister who’s being imprisoned in her own mind, so _I_ have to save her. Besides, you’ve already lost too many people because of this crazy mess. I don’t want anyone else to suffer.” She managed to get her arm out of Forge’s hold, but then Jean gently rested her hand on Rebecca’s left shoulder. The action wasn’t forceful in any way, but it made Rebecca stop dead in her tracks.

“Rebecca, just hear us out,” the telepath pleaded, “We know that we’ve lost a lot of our number, and we don’t want to lose any more, but that’s why we _can’t_ let you go alone. You’re a part of our family, and we can’t lose you, too. And besides, it’s not just your fight anymore. Everyone here is ready and willing to fight to save all the people trapped in the Spirit Realm. Make no mistake about it, we’re going with you. Tomorrow morning, we’ll gather up a team and head out to face Seether. But first, you need some rest. You’ve been through a lot today, and you can’t fight to save your sister if you’re exhausted.”

Rebecca sighed and gave up. “Okay. I’m just so worried about Julia.”

Jean pulled her into a hug. “How about you tell me exactly what you saw when you connected minds?” Rebecca nodded and sniffled, and the two of them started to walk back to the infirmary. Scott and Forge stayed behind, discussing something about battle tactics. No doubt they were hoping to come up with an effective strategy to use against Seether.

It was funny; before the mental encounter, she’d absolutely refused to use that name. To her, it’d always been her sister, Julia. Now that she knew that ‘Julia’ and ‘Seether’ were in fact two separate entities, she was more than happy to use that evil mutant’s name, because it no longer applied to the Julia she knew and had grown up with for sixteen and a half years.

By the time the girls had reached the infirmary, Rebecca had filled Jean in on what had happened when she’d touched her twin’s mind. The redhead admitted that they’d already suspected that Seether was a separate being, and theorised that another psychic contact might be the only way to save Julia. “I tried to reach her mind during the battle earlier today, but I got nothing. You’re the only one who has a chance of getting through to her and taking Seether’s power. If Julia can regain control, then we may be able to win this and bring everyone back.”

“I don’t know if I can,” Rebecca admitted, “She’s even more powerful in there; I couldn’t even use my own powers to fight her off. How can I be of any help?”

“You can take her, Rebecca. I have faith in you.” Rebecca couldn’t help but smile back and believe her. Jean had become like a surrogate older sister to her. What she’d said back in the hanger was true, after all. The X-Men really had become part of her family, and she’d become part of theirs.

* * *

“Okay, people,” Scott announced two hours later, “We’ve got a plan.” The remaining X-Men – save Ray and Rebecca – and the Brotherhood were gathered back in the rec room. “Tomorrow evening at seven – that’s six here – Seether is planning to launch an attack at a big hockey game up in Halifax, so we’ve got to do something to prevent it. We’re going to fly over there and take her on, hopefully for the last time.”

“But we’ve already taken her on twice,” Amara reminded him, “and failed both times.”

“Both times, Seether had the advantage of surprise. _This_ time we have an actual plan, and we won’t be on the defensive. The team we’ve picked is going to Halifax to fight, everyone else is going to stay here and be on guard. This could be a trap to divide us up, which is why only a small amount of people are going. That’s me, Jean, Rebecca, Kurt, Anna, Laura, and Sam. We’d have Roberto going, too, but if something goes wrong, you should at least have one flyer left. That was one of the biggest advantages Seether had, so we’ve got to be careful of that. Also – and I can’t _believe_ we’ve decided to do this – Jamie will be coming along. We’ll have a few thousand people around us, and he’s the best for crowd control, ironically.”

“Kurt will be teleporting the fight away from any populated areas,” Jean continued, “As some of you know, we’ve been experimenting with combining his and Rebecca’s powers, and if she can encase the whole group in a shield bubble, he’ll be able to teleport everything inside it all at once.”

“Are you, like, sure that’ll work?” Kitty asked.

“We don’t know for certain,” Jean admitted, “But we don’t have much of a choice. Everyone else is to stay here on full alert. Kitty, Evan, and Forge are in charge. It’s probably best if the Brotherhood stays here as well; she’s targeting you guys, too. We’ve already contacted the school board, and they’ve agreed to excuse everyone from school until this is over.”

“You mean they don’t want us around in case there’s another attack,” Pietro commented bitterly.

“Pretty much,” Scott agreed grimly, “But that’s not our biggest concern right now, so we’ll have to wait until later to deal with it. Okay, everyone going to Halifax is going to bed early tonight. Rahne, you’ve got the first shift on night watch.”

Everyone got up, still murmuring amongst themselves. Most headed off to their rooms, while Rahne went in the direction of the security room downstairs. The thought of losing more of her friends scared her to death. She was only grateful that Roberto wasn’t going off to fight. But now they were down to sixteen, plus the Brotherhood, and Scott, Jean, and Forge were the only adults left. Tomorrow, they could be down to only eight people. Rahne didn’t think the mission would succeed. If Seether could take out almost all the instructors without breaking a sweat, how could half a dozen less-trained mutants stand a chance?

On her way to the security centre, Rahne passed by the infirmary, then stopped when her sharp ears picked up voices. Even though she knew it was impolite to eavesdrop, she listened in on Ray and Rebecca.

“Just promise me you’ll be careful, okay?” Ray was saying, “I know you can do it.”

“I know, Jean told me the same thing, but I’m not really so sure. I mean, my powers are useless in there, and if Jules can’t fight Seether off in her own mind, what chance do _I_ have?”

“Shh, don’t think like that. Look at me. You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met, and Seether’s totally underestimating that. She may have come from part of your sister, but she’s not capable of understanding the bond between you and Julia. She thinks she can overcome that, but she can’t. So don’t doubt yourself, alright?”

A sigh. “Alright. Well, I should try and get some sleep. God knows I’ll need it for tomorrow morning.” Rahne heard the two of them lie down, and then the lights went out with a faint _‘pop’_.

* * *

_Friday, February 1 st, 2002_

The crowd pressed in on Rebecca from all sides. This was one of the reasons she didn’t go to hockey games – or any sports event, for that matter. There were just too damn many people. Scott, Jean, Laura, and one Jamie clone were at the other end of the arena, while Sam, Anna, Kurt, and another Jamie had already taken seats in the upper bowl, and one more Jamie was with her. All Rebecca had to do was get them into their own seats and wait for the show to begin.

Her throat went dry at the thought. The Metro Centre had enough seats for ten thousand spectators, plus the players, coaches, and all the people who worked there. How could they fight without putting all those innocent people in danger? It all rested on her and Kurt. Rebecca just prayed it would work.

Some people glanced at her suspiciously, before shrugging and going back to their own business. Rebecca remembered with a shock that most of them had probably seen her on the news last week: the local mutant freak. She hoped none of them would recognise her.

“Rebecca Reid?” Shit. Rebecca turned around at the sound of her name being called, and was relieved to see that the speaker was Chris Carson, the keyboard player in her band. “Hey, long time, no see!”

Rebecca quickly put on a fake smile and hugged him. “Hi, Chris. What are you doing here? You _hate_ sports.”

“So do you. It’s my Grandpa’s birthday, and he wanted to watch a game, so we’re all here with him.”

“So your whole family is here?” Rebecca bit her lip. “Damn, that’s not good.”

"Why not? It beats another night of Grandma’s cooking.”

“Yeah, but you’ll wind up wishing you were at home, soon. I’m here on an X-Men mission.” Chris immediately sobered up. “There’s going to be an attack on this arena, and we’re going to try and stop it without any bystanders getting hurt, but there’s only eight of us here. So as soon as it starts – and trust me, you’ll _know_ when it starts – get everyone out and listen to this kid here or one of his clones running around; he’s taking care of crowd control.”

“Clones?”

“Jamie self-duplicates. We’ve already alerted Metro Centre security and the police, but they won’t believe us, so they won’t know what to do, and they won’t be ready.”

Chris nodded seriously. “Okay, just be careful, and good luck.” He gave her another quick hug.

“Thanks. And if I don’t survive, tell Meghan and Lynzi and everybody else that I love them, okay?”

“Aren’t you being a little overdramatic?”

“No, not really.” Without explaining why, she and Jamie walked away, and went to find their seats. It was almost time.

The buzzer sounded just as they sat down. All the players – the Halifax Mooseheads and the Cape Breton Eagles – moved off the ice after their warmup, and Metro Centre employees came out and quickly set up the inflatable Mooseheads gate. Then the lights dimmed and smoke started pouring out of the gate as each member of the home team skated out when the announcer called out their names and numbers over the deafening cheers.

The rest of the opening ceremony went on as normal. The Eagles came onto the ice, with less huzzah, ‘O Canada’ was played, and the game started. All went as if nothing unusual was about to happen, until the first goal was scored. The arena was suddenly filled with the same strange magenta aura that’d appeared at the harbour, and then a neon green burst of energy blasted the huge scoreboard and diamond-screen right off the ceiling. The huge machine came crashing down onto the rink, sending scraps of metal, glass, and plastic in all directions. Luckily, nobody on the ice was crushed underneath; most had been by the Mooseheads’ net, and the others had skated out of the way just in time.

Chaos erupted all around as people panicked and wondered what the hell had just happened. Rebecca scanned the entire arena to try and spot Seether, focusing particularly on where the blast had originated. A few seconds later, she spotted Sam rocketing towards a shadowy figure she’d missed on her initial sweep.

Seether saw him coming and, as predicted, shielded herself. Cannonball ricocheted off the shield, but the force of his impact jolted her back. Pulse rose into the air while Seether was still distracted, and fired off the shockwave that sent the evil impersonator down to the surface of the rink. Cyclops, Phoenix, and Talon, who’d gotten seats in the third row behind the visitors’ bench, soon joined Pulse and Cannonball. Nightcrawler and Rogue teleported in nearby, the former just barely clutching the hem of Mesmero’s long cloak. Of course he’d be lurking up where he could see all the action.

Pulse quickly surrounded the nine of them in a force bubble. Nightcrawler put one three-fingered hand on its interior surface, and Pulse caught a glimpse of Chris and several Multiples trying to control the terrified crowd before they all vanished in a puff of sulphurous smoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, as for the Mooseheads, they're a hockey team in Halifax made up mainly of high school- and college-aged guys. The Eagles are the Cape Breton team in the same league, and the only one I can really think of off the top of my head. The way the pre-game setup goes is that the players will come on to warm up, then there's a buzzer and they all go off and the zamboni clears off the ice, then this big inflatable gate with a moose's head is set up, and one by one the Moosehead players come on when their name and number is announced. The visitors are introduced in the same way, but without a big gate and dry-ice special effects. Then the Canadian National anthem O Canada is played, and the actual game starts.
> 
> Read and Review Please! :) 3


	9. Resolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's the long-awaited conclusion of Seether and Pulse! I'm sorry for the long wait, but the start of the semester took up a lot of my time. Anyway, it's been fun working on this project for the past two years. Check out the preview of the sequel at the bottom of the page.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own XME or its characters. Or Big Fat Liar. I DO own Rebecca, Julia, Seether, Austin, Meghan, Chris, Chase, Rochelle, Matty, and Lynzi

_Friday, February 1 st, 2002_

Pulse coughed and looked around. They’d been teleported to a small, forested area on the outskirts of the city, one that Rebecca had picked out on a map earlier. They were far from any people, and not too close to the airport.

Seether stood up, swinging her energy whips with a vengeance. “You just _had_ to spoil my fun, didn’t you?” she snapped, “What’s the point of having a big fight if there aren’t any little humans getting caught in the crossfire?”

Pulse blocked the blows with a little difficulty. “We did _not_ come here to play, Seether!” she declared, “We’re going to take you down, right here, right now!” In the background, she heard another _BAMF_ sound, telling her that Nightcrawler, Cyclops, Rogue, and Phoenix had teleported off to the second location with Mesmero, leaving Seether up to her, Talon, and Cannonball.

“You sound _so_ sure. Here, let me show you how wrong you are when I _kill_ you on the spot!” Seether fired off a green blast, but Pulse took to the air, quickly joined by Cannonball. The latter began flying around, as if trying again and again to dive-bomb the enemy. It worked (again). Seether was busy shielding herself and blasting at Talon on the ground, so Pulse managed to get closer to Seether and grab her hand. She reached into her mind and found the mental connection, and jumped in.

* * *

Rebecca felt once again like she was being sucked through space for a few seconds, then found herself back in Julia’s mind.

“You little idiot!” Seether spat, “You can’t beat me! This is _my_ turf! You’re powerless here! Do you really want to save Jules, or are you just giving up and coming to keep her company?”

Rebecca gritted her teeth. “Oh, I am _going_ to save Jules, and you are _not_ going to stop me!” She dashed forward, dodging an energy whip, only to crash into a force-field.

“I’d like to see you try, bitch!”

“Then just watch!” Rebecca focused all her willpower and pressed her hand against the shield. “Jules, take my hand!” Her palm began to melt through the transparent wall ever so slightly. “We can take her. She’s nothing; she only has power if that Mesmero freak gives it to her!” Seether shrieked and ran forward, but Rebecca used her free hand to punch her in the face. “ _We_ don’t need extra power from anyone; all we need is each other!” The ‘ropes’ around her sister began to flicker. “Come on!”

* * *

Phoenix struggled to keep her mental shields up. Mesmero was going all-out on their minds now; his desperation was clear. Now that Seether was further away from him, he probably didn’t have as much control over her. That was the one big advantage they had. Hopefully, it would make it that much easier for Julia to regain control over her own mind.

Nightcrawler had been knocked out, but Cyclops continuously fired on Mesmero while Phoenix telekinetically hurled rocks at him, trying to distract him from the fact that Rogue was creeping up behind him.

Then finally, success. Rogue jumped on the evil telepath’s back and grabbed his face with both ungloved hands. Mesmero gasped and collapsed, letting out a strangled cry of surprise and rage before falling unconscious. Rogue clutched her head, as all his evil thoughts and memories wrestled with hers for a bit.

* * *

Seether howled in fury as her precious powers suddenly stopped working. Rebecca helped Julia up, and the twins faced the evil alter-ego, clasping hands. “Get out,” Julia ordered. She raised her other hand and blasted Seether with her own green energy beams, although these were brighter and stronger. Their pitch-black surroundings were suddenly filled with dancing pink and purple lights, and Seether cringed as they reflected off her.

“No!” she yelled, “I can’t be defeated like this!”

“Whatever, _bitch_ ,” Rebecca snapped.

“AAAGGGHHH!” And Seether faded away into nothing.

* * *

Julia felt the ground beneath her, and the sensation of something thin and cool just touching her throat. “It’s okay!” She could hear her sister’s voice, pleading with someone. “She’s herself now; Seether’s gone.” The cool object was moved away, and a pair of hands grabbed hers. “Jules? Jules, can you hear me? Please wake up!”

Julia slowly opened her eyes. At first, everything was a blur, but then Rebecca’s worried face came into focus. “Becky…” she whispered weakly, “Becky, I want to go home.”

Rebecca started tearing up and hugged her tightly. Julia began sobbing as well. She was so tired of the never-ending nightmare of watching herself trying to kill her own sister and all those other innocent people. All she wanted was to go back home, curl up in her own bed, and wake up from that nightmare in the morning.

* * *

Meanwhile, people who were by the Halifax Harbour gasped and pointed as a pair of black clouds appeared over the water, and two people fell out. One of them, the boy in the blue winter jacket, stuck his hand toward the waves, which suddenly froze beneath him and the girl wearing a red coat. They both landed on their feet and looked around, startled.

* * *

At Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Youngsters, an alarm sounded as many more black clouds materialised, and several more people were dumped on the front lawn. Kitty and Evan led the small group of teenagers in the charge out the door, to defend their home against the intruders, but stopped when they realised who they all were.

Everyone immediately dropped out of attack mode and went to help their instructors.

* * *

“REBECCA!” The sound of her name being called was just barely audible over the babble of the crowd. “JULIA!”

Kurt had by then returned them all to the front entrance of the Metro Centre. They had reunited with Jamie, and the Kurt had ‘ported by the harbour to pick up Bobby and Wanda once Kitty had radioed them, saying that all the captured instructors had been returned. Julia had practically collapsed again, this time in relief.

The crowd outside was wary of them, careful not to get within six feet of their group. It was pretty chaotic everywhere else, like their had their own bubble of relative calm in a sea of frightened and confused people who were still trying to piece together what the hell had happened in the stadium. The civilians didn’t want anything to do with the mutants, not now.

So it came as a surprise to Rebecca when a person shoved their way through the crowd and threw themselves at the twins.

“M-Meghan?” Rebecca gasped. She hugged her cousin back.

Chris and Chase, the latter carrying Rochelle, weren’t too far behind. “I called them,” Chris explained, “Figured you’d want to see them while you were in town.”

Julia at first seemed unresponsive, but then she sagged into Meghan's embrace and clung to her tightly. Rebecca was both relieved to have her sister back and worried about what would happen next. Jules was shaken and traumatised by the past two weeks. Rebecca knew she was blaming herself for everything.

Rebecca had never really been the patient twin, the one who stayed by the other’s side when she was going through a hard time. But right then and there, she swore that she would do that for Julia. Because no matter what had happened in the past, they were sisters to the end.

* * *

_Saturday, March 2 nd, 2002_

Rebecca covered her ears just in time to block out most of Lynzi's screech: “Is that it?!”

She’d been doing that with every large building ever since they’d entered Bayville.

The twins had opted to stay home after what they now referred to as ‘the Metro Centre Incident’. After the major media circus and confusion, both were looking for a stable, familiar environment. Chris, Matty and Lynzi had been delighted to have them back, although Matty had spent a lot of time locked in his room by his nutcase parents.

Sacred Heart had refused to let the Reid twins back in (Rebecca was certain it had something to do with Austin Jones’s mother being on the school board), but Citadel High had accepted them. Lynzi wouldn’t shut up about how great it would be to be going to the same school, even if it was only a temporary arrangement.

At the beginning, Julia had been shier and more withdrawn than usual, but after a month of love and support from her family and friends, she felt she was ready to go to the Institute.

So here they were, near the end of their super-long road trip to Bayville. Lynzi’s dad had lent them his large minivan so that all of them – Chase, Meghan, Rochelle, Lynzi, Matty, and Chris – could accompany the twins down. Matty’s parents were under the impression that he was scouting universities with some other friends, but what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. He and Lynzi kept things interesting all the way there, but Rebecca was glad when the X-Mansion came into view.

Pretty much the entire mansion plus Amanda and a new kid (who they later learned was Sam and Paige’s brother Jay) were waiting in the front hall for them. They all converged around Rebecca, and paid little attention to Julia until Jean walked over. “Welcome to the Xavier Institute,” she greeted her, sticking out her hand. Julia hesitated at first, then accepted.

 _“See, Jules?”_ Rebecca said to her telepathically. They’d been working on that connection for a month, and could now hold a private conversation as easily as if they were speaking aloud. _“I **told** you they wouldn’t be mad at you.”_ Julia had been worried that everyone would hate her for what Seether had done. But she was proven wrong as the other students broke off from Rebecca and enthusiastically went to greet her.

Only Ray remained. Grinning at her, he swept Rebecca into a tight hug, which she gladly returned. “I missed you,” he whispered softly.

“I missed you, too.” Of all her fellow X-Men, Ray was the one she’d missed the most, hands down. He’d been there for her during her roughest spots, and all month she’d been dying to be in his arms again.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rebecca glimpsed Ms. Munro and the Professor conversing with Meghan and Chase, and Tabby and Bobby in a spirited chat with Lynzi and Matty – danger alert! Not too far away, Rochelle was cheerfully babbling to Kurt. Rebecca had made sure that the little girl knew exactly what he, Evan, and Mr. McCoy looked like, and that they were all really nice guys. Judging from Kurt’s facial expression, he hadn’t expected Rochelle to have such an… enthusiastic reaction to him.

Ray poked her and Rebecca realised she’d become distracted. “Hey, I’ve got an extra ticket to ‘Big Fat Liar’ for tonight,” he said carefully, like he was trying to summon the guts to continue, “And I was wondering… well originally Roberto was going to go, it’s this really funny comedy flick, but then he’s got something planned with Rahne, so…”

Rebecca poked him back. “Spit it out.”

He sighed. “I was wondering if you’d like to go. To the movie. With me.”

Rebecca's breath caught in her throat. “Are you asking me out?” Her heart unexpectedly fluttered at the thought.

“I guess… Kinda… Yeah.”

Rebecca grinned. “Sure. Who turns down a free movie? Name the time and place.”

He seemed a little stunned for a second. “Well… it starts at eight, so we can meet down here at seven-thirty. Kitty and Tabby are planning to drag Lance and Pietro to one of those sappy romance movies, so we can bum a ride.”

Rebecca leaned over, on a random urge, and pecked him on the cheek. “It’s a date.”

Any further conversation was cut off by Lynzi, who ran over and tugged on Rebecca’s arm. “Come on, you promised!” she begged, “Hot single guys! Introduce me! Now!”

Rebecca rolled her eyes and reluctantly allowed herself to be dragged away, _still_ not sure how to tell her that nearly all the boys their age were taken.

 

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here's the preview for the sequel. It's still in the rough draft stages, and won't be up for a long while, but until then, please enjoy what I've put here.
> 
> Let's see... political stuff... a possible mutant registration act... that's something they'd have to talk about later... old building caught fire in Manhattan... some guy murdered in New Jersey - wait a second. His eyes focused on the murder article as a familiar name caught his attention.
> 
> FATHER KILLED IN MUGGING ATTEMPT
> 
> SON LEAD SUSPECT
> 
> Former Detective George Crisp was found murdered in an alleyway not too far from his apartment in uptown New Jersey two nights ago. Police initially suspected robbery as the primary motive, but a visiting FBI profiler (who prefers to remain unnamed at this time) maintains that Crisp had a personal connection with at least one of his killers. This theory, along with witness statements, has led the New Jersey Police Department to Crisp's eldest son Duane, who has been arrested on numerous drug charges until sufficient evidence has been gathered to charge him with the murder.
> 
> Crisp leaves behind one other son, eleven-year-old Tyler, who was placed in temporary foster care following his brother's arrest. Crisp is predeceased by his wife Sally and the couple's second son Raymond, who went missing six years ago. Police now suspect Duane Crisp's hand in this event as well.
> 
> The funeral date is not set, but funding is coming from the police department to cover expenses. Crisp's former partner, Det. Hunter Vargas, told our reporter yesterday evening: "George had a hard time in the last ten years of his life, but the New Jersey Police Department, myself included, is determined to nail his killer. He was a good friend and beloved to many of our number, and he and his son Tyler deserve justice."
> 
> Pietro read the article three times over, positive that he was misreading. "No way," he said to himself, "That's gotta be some kind of mistake."


End file.
